Hiring Over-35s in Southern Italy: The ZES Bonus is Now Active

The ZES Bonus is now available — an incentive aimed at businesses in Southern Italy that hire long-term unemployed workers over the age of 35 on permanent contracts. The implementing decree, dated 7 January 2025 and signed by the Ministers of Labour and Social Policies and of Economy and Finance, has been published in the Official Gazette. It sets out the procedures for obtaining full exemption from social security contributions (excluding INAIL premiums) for a period of two years, up to a maximum of €650 per month.

This measure, provided for under Article 24 of the Cohesion Decree (Decree-Law No. 60/2024, converted with amendments into Law No. 95/2024), is funded with €591.4 million until 2027 as part of the National Programme for Youth, Women and Work 2021–2027. It aims to boost employment levels and reduce regional disparities in the Single Special Economic Zone (ZES) regions of Southern Italy: Abruzzo, Basilicata, Calabria, Campania, Molise, Puglia, Sicily, and Sardinia.

The incentive is available to private employers with up to 10 employees who, between 1 September 2024 and 31 December 2025, hire non-managerial staff to work in one of the eight ZES regions. To qualify for the bonus, the company must not have carried out individual dismissals for justified objective reasons or collective redundancies in the six months prior to the new hire.

Interested companies must submit an online application to INPS, providing company and employee details, contract type, average monthly salary, and the intended workplace. The bonus cannot be combined with other contribution exemptions, but it is fully compatible with the enhanced tax deduction for new hires introduced by the IRPEF reform (Article 4 of Legislative Decree No. 216/2023), which has been extended until 2027.

Read the full announcement on the Ministry of Labour and Social Policies's website