Deep-dive

Work

Employment rate around 50%, unemployment above the national average. Highly seasonal agriculture and tourism; aerospace (Grottaglie, Brindisi, Foggia), steel in Taranto in crisis, engineering and ICT in Bari, energy. Job centres run by ARPAL Puglia. Graduate emigration; ZES unica incentives.

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Structure and seasonality

About half of working-age Apulians are employed, with wide gaps between Bari and the rest of the region and between men and women. Agriculture weighs more than the Italian average and employs many seasonal workers, largely foreign, in the tomato, grape, olive and vegetable harvests between June and November; the Capitanata is the area where working and housing conditions are most critical and the object of regional and national anti-exploitation plans. Tourism generates contracts from April to October in the Salento, Gargano, Valle d'Itria and Bari.

Industrial hubs

Skilled industry concentrates in the Aerospace Technology District (Leonardo in Grottaglie, where Boeing 787 fuselage sections are made, and in Foggia; Avio Aero in Brindisi), in engineering and electronics in Bari (Bosch, Magneti Marelli, Getrag), in pharmaceuticals, renewable energy and Bari's ICT services (Exprivia and multinationals). The Taranto steelworks, the largest in Europe, is under extraordinary administration with thousands of workers on furlough and a future tied to decarbonisation; Brindisi faces the closure of its coal power station. Public employment (Region, health service, universities) remains a central employer.

Services and incentives

Job centres are run by ARPAL Puglia, the regional agency for active labour policies, which publishes vacancies on the Sistema Puglia portal and manages the GOL programme and internships. ISTAT and SVIMEZ (a research association, not an official source) document a persistent negative migration balance of young people and graduates towards the Centre-North and abroad, partly offset by returns to the Salento and Bari. Businesses benefit from the ZES unica tax credit and the single digital authorisation; conditions and deadlines should be checked on the official pages.

Employment rate (15-64)

Regional figurePeriod: 2025Validsample unknown

Source: ISTAT – Rilevazione sulle forze di lavoro: tasso di occupazione (dataflow 150_915, DCCV_TAXOCCU1)

51 %

Unemployment rate (15-74)

Regional figurePeriod: 2025Validsample unknown

Source: ISTAT – Rilevazione sulle forze di lavoro: tasso di disoccupazione (dataflow 151_914, DCCV_TAXDISOCCU1)

10 %