Hundreds of Italian teachers give up permanent positions due to housing costs

The dream of a permanent position in the public sector has been a kind of cross-cutting myth in Italy for decades. Essays, novels, and films have been written about this national ambition. And yet, even that has now become a luxury. This time not due to a lack of positions, but because of what accepting one implies: finding housing.

The phenomenon especially affects schools, a sector in which historically the wait to obtain a “de ruolo” position, as it is said in Italian, could be long and exhausting. But the rising cost of housing has created a new paradox: more and more teachers prefer to continue chaining substitute jobs near home rather than accept a permanent position far away and bear the cost of rent.

Better precariousness near family than a permanent position that forces you to live with water up to your neck

According to data from unions and regional administrations, about 300 teachers in Tuscany and another 383 in Friuli-Venezia Giulia have declined permanent incorporation this year. In Liguria, only 562 of the 1,407 available positions have been filled, while thousands of posts remain vacant in Lombardy. All this in a school year for which the Government had authorized the indefinite hiring of up to 46,642 teachers.

There is also a strong territorial component. The problem is concentrated mainly in the north, where housing costs are much higher, but also where historically there has been movement of teachers within Italy: teachers from the south who, after years of precariousness, accepted a permanent position in Lombardy, Piedmont, Veneto, or Emilia-Romagna.

Now that mechanism is starting to jam. The math is simple: a newly hired teacher earns around 1,450-1,480 euros net per month, while a room can cost between 500 and 700 euros and a small apartment can easily reach 1,000. On top of that, there are travel costs to return home. In Milan, the problem is much more acute; according to Immobiliare.it, a single room costs on average more than 700 euros per month. For many, the conclusion is counterintuitive but rational: better precariousness near family than a permanent position that forces you to live with water up to your neck.

A newly hired teacher earns a maximum of 1,480 euros net per month, and a room costs from 500 to 700 euros

Italian teachers’ salaries have been losing ground for years. According to the OECD, primary school teachers earn on average 33% less than other workers with university education, compared to a 17% gap worldwide. Between 2015 and 2024, while real teacher salaries increased by an average of 14.6% in the OECD, in Italy they fell by 4.4%.

And so, in ministerial offices, even more resignations are expected in the coming months. Unions argue that these are no longer isolated cases. Uil Scuola demands specific aid for housing and mobility. Other unions, such as Anief, call for compensation for displaced workers and tax deductions on rent and transport. In Tuscany, Flc Cgil already counts about 400 resignations in its latest report. Not all are for the same reason – overlapping competitions and the presence of the same candidates on several lists also weigh – but the union maintains that a significant part is explained by economic reasons. A problem that especially affects women, who make up the majority of teachers and who often have to add family organization to the calculation.

The result worsens another chronic problem of the Italian school: precariousness. In Tuscany, for example, the union estimates that in some categories, especially among support teachers, nearly half of the teachers may still be working under temporary contracts. The system thus enters a kind of vicious circle: there are stable positions that are not filled and, at the same time, schools continue to depend on thousands of substitutes.

Translated from