Active labour market policies and training – Workers’ Employability Guarantee (GOL)

The GOL (Workers’ Employability Guarantee) programme is a reform measure introduced by Italy’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) to boost employment in Italy and tackle unemployment: it provides a range of services to help the unemployed, workers on short-time working schemes, people with disabilities, women, young people, the over-55s and other disadvantaged groups re-enter the labour market.

According to estimates by the National Agency for Active Labour Market Policies (ANPAL), the programme will involve a total of 3 million beneficiaries by 2025.

The programme’s implementation is based on collaboration between the public and private sectors in employment and training services, and on the integration of social welfare and employment services across the country. The programme is based on a comprehensive training programme designed to meet the needs of businesses through the creation of a shared catalogue and the widespread availability of services across the entire province, including the development of online services.

Its initiatives form part of a wider programme of reforms in the labour sector, the implementation of which is linked to the Plan to Strengthen Job Centres (CPI) and the National Plan for New Skills, aimed at strengthening the dual system (combining ‘classroom-based’ training and practical training in ‘workplace settings’).

The 2024 Budget Act has linked the programme to measures such as the Training and Employment Support scheme (in force since 1 September 2023) and the Inclusion Allowance, which from 2024 replaces the Citizenship Income.

To access the GOL programme, you must contact the Employment Centres (CPI) in your local area, which may facilitate forms of cooperation between the public and private sectors. 

During the assessment process, the actions to be taken will be identified, which the project defines as five specific pathways:

1. Return to work: this pathway is for those who are closest to the labour market; it helps guide participants towards immediate reintegration into the labour market through job placement support, including via accredited organisations;
2. Upskilling: this pathway utilises short training programmes aimed at acquiring basic skills (IT, language or entrepreneurial skills) or vocational skills to fill gaps in the skills required for the targeted role;
3. Reskilling: this is a programme that utilises more structured training tools with the aim of developing, in the participant, professional skills and knowledge that differ (by sector, processes and/or relevant fields) from those mastered prior to commencing the training, and/or professional skills and knowledge that lead to an increase in qualification levels compared to the starting point;
4. Work and inclusion: this is a programme dedicated to vulnerable individuals for whom returning to work is difficult, partly due to difficulties in balancing work and personal life or social issues; in this context, collaboration with the local network of social services is useful to assess the individual’s situation from a multidimensional perspective and identify the most appropriate measures;
5. Collective redeployment: these are programmes for workers belonging to the same company facing a crisis, and which must therefore be assessed not only in terms of individual needs but as a collective intervention.

At its meeting on 5 March 2022, the Provincial Executive provisionally adopted the Provincial Plan for the implementation of the GOL programme, to be submitted to the National Agency for Active Labour Market Policies (ANPAL) for final approval.

Following ANPAL’s approval, by Resolution No. 1295 of 15 July 2022, the Provincial Executive definitively approved the Provincial Implementation Plan for the Programme. This approval enabled the launch of the planned activities through the relevant GOL public notices.

The amendments and updates to the Provincial Implementation Plan for the GOL programme are set out below:

- Provincial Executive Resolution No. 2077 of 20 October 2023(following ANPAL’s favourable opinion on the examination of the proposed amendment to the 2022 regional implementation plan);

-Provincial Council Resolution No. 2314 of 15 December 2023;

- Provincial Council Resolution No. 473 of 12 April 2024 (following the relevant favourable opinion from ANPAL regarding the assessment of the consistency of the updated financial framework, including resources for the year 2023, with the National GOL Programme);

-Provincial Council Resolution No. 1194 of 2 August 2024(following thefavourable opinion of the Ministry of Labour and Social Policiesregarding the 2023 update of the regional implementation plan);

- Provincial Council Resolution No. 1352 of 12 September 2025 (following the favourable opinion of the Ministry of Labourand Social Policiesregarding the assessment of the consistency of the updated financial framework in relation to the amounts allocated for the years 2024–2025 under the National GOL Programme), and a new call for applications (No. 4) for the collective redeployment scheme due to a company crisis (approx. 2.2 million)

- Provincial Council Resolution No. 274 of 27 February 2026 (following the favourable opinion of the Ministry of Labour and Social Policies) concerning the 2024–2025–2026 update of the regional implementation plan.

The GOL programme confirms the current approach to delivering active labour market services, which is based on a two-pronged strategy:

1. the publication of open calls for proposals, which involve an assessment of the training projects submitted with a view to approving a ranking of training proposals, with the public administration playing a strong supervisory role in their management and delivery;
2. the use of vouchers issued to users to access active labour market policy services from an accredited provider chosen by the users themselves.

At the same time, the public sector continues to provide strong guidance and support throughout the entire process.

For further details, please refer to the following web pages:

1. Notice 1:PaT service factsheet and Employment Agency information sheet
2. Notice 2:PaT service factsheet and Employment Agency news
3. Notice 3:PaT service informationsheet and Employment Agency information sheet
4. Notice 4: Employment Agency information sheet

To promote the employability of workers in transition, as well as unemployed and economically inactive people, with a particular focus on those considered vulnerable and furthest from the labour market.

Contribution to the target by 2025:

• 21,825 beneficiaries (of whom at least 75% are women, the long-term unemployed, people with disabilities, and people under 30 or over 55)
• at least 6,880 enrolled in training programmes, of whom at least 2,722 for digital skills
• at least 80 per cent of the 12 Job Centres offering all universal LEP services

As at 31 December 2025, the results achieved for the Province of Trento exceeded the established targets, as detailed below:

• Beneficiaries taken on: 26,419 (against a target of 25,677);
• Participants trained (total): 7,372 (against a target of 6,104);
• Users trained in digital skills: 4,291 (against a target of 3,297).

These results not only fully meet the 2025 targets, but have in fact already exceeded the target of 689 trainees set for the first half of 2026.

The Province, in its capacity as the implementing body, makes use of the Employment Agency.

Source: PNRR

The actual allocations are determined annually by ministerial decrees, which take into account the number of beneficiaries enrolled and the progress of expenditure.

As of November 2023, the allocations are as follows:

• Financial year 2022: €8,624,000
• Financial year 2023:€8,760,000

Furthermore, in order to facilitate the planning of interventions on a multi-annual basis:

• First instalment for the 2024 financial year: € 4,380,000
• First instalment for the 2025 financial year: € 4,380,000

The provincial implementation plan for2022 has a total budget of €12,232,770, taking into account the additional provincial resources already allocated to the Employment Agency totalling €3,608,770.00.

The update to the Implementation Plan provides for a budget of €9,360,000 for 2023, of which €8,760,000 is covered by PNRR funds and €600,000 by funds available in the Employment Agency’s budget.

The Decree of 11 February 2025 approved the final allocations for 2024 and 2025 (20.58 million), bringing thetotal allocation to 37.96 million.

The Decree of 4 December 2025 updated the allocation of resources for the two-year period 2024–2025 and provides for a further allocation of €1,936,486.54, to cover activities in the first half of 2026 and the related extra-target number of trainees.The total allocation of PNRR 2022–2026 resources stands at €39,901,154.54.

TThe targets set for 2022 have been achieved: adoption of the Implementation Plan and the profiling and processing of 5,004 individuals (representing 17.02 per cent of the Programme’s total beneficiaries).

As at 31 December 2023, 12,813 users had been taken on, of whom 7,928 were in 2023, thereby also meeting the target set for 2023 (7,300):

1. Return to work: 8,014 (62.5%)
2. Upskilling: 3,250 (25.4 per cent)
3. Reskilling: 648 (5.1 per cent)
4. Employment and inclusion: 901 (7.0%)

The training target was also met in 2023 (1,374 participants, of whom 977 received training in digital skills, compared with the target of 1,350).

As of September 2025, the breakdown of participants in the four programmes was as follows:

The overall targets as at 31 December 2025 (including the target for the year 2023 set out in the Decree of the Minister for Labour and Social Policies, in agreement with the Minister for the Economy and Finance, dated 24 August 2023: 7,300 beneficiaries, of whom 1,350 have received training, including 540 who have received digital training) have therefore been updated and revised as follows:

- 25,677 beneficiaries;

- 6,104 training courses (of which 3,297 are digital training courses)

The overall financial framework for the GOL Programme – PNRR resources – for the period 2022–2026 is therefore updated to a total of €39,901,154.54, of which €17,384,000.00 is allocated to the years 2022 and 2023, and €22,517,154.54 to the years 2024–2025 and the first half of 2026.