Quick! Take me to the Pharmacy!
Photo courtesy of italyfromtheinside.com
An article in the English edition of ANSA describes a wildcat strike by taxi drivers in Rome. They are unhappy because the Monti administration, in its package of reforms, wants to loosen requirements to become a cabby. This is just one of many measures aimed at boosting Italy’s flagging economy and making it possible for young people to find work – all of which are being offered in tandem with severe austerity measures.
Photo courtesy of tuscantraveller.com
Back in 2007 the Roman taxi drivers were angry, too. At that time the city wanted to add 1,000 cabs to the stable. Rome had, at that time, 3 cabs for every 1,000 residents, the fewest of any city in Europe, according to a Marketplace report.
Prime Minister Monti, photo courtesy of The Guardian
Another of the proposed Monti reforms calls for relaxing the regulations around opening a pharmacy. As things are now it is almost impossible to open a new pharmacy. A young person can go to school and become a pharmacist, but without family connections to an existing business, finding a position will be difficult (not impossible, but difficult). But the entrepreneurial pharmacist who wants to open a new drugstore is just plain out of luck. The number and opening hours of pharmacies are regulated by law according to about.com. It is also true that if you want to get aspirin or vitamins you will have to go to a pharmacy where you will find them hideously packaged on foil covered cardboard. Last time I forgot to bring aspirin from the States I paid € 6 for 30 aspirin. Speedy says that often when viewing the painkiller section of a Walmart store and seeing 500 Iboprofen selling for $6.28, he thinks an Italian seeing the same shelf would need a cardiologist rather than some pills. Until recently the only place you could buy prepared baby food was at a pharmacy. Imagine!
While there is a lot wrong with the pharmacy system in Italy (and probably the taxi system as well), there is a lot right. There is always at least one pharmacy open within shouting distance, and the pharmacists are highly trained, knowledgeable and able to help with minor medical emergencies, saving one a trip to the emergency room. But the regulations against competition in pharmacies could be relaxed without reducing the requisite training for pharmacists – that would be good for consumers and for young pharmacists.
The larger problem, of which these two issues are representative, is that Italy is a country strangled by bureaucracy and regulations. There is no place for young people to find work because all the trades and professions are so busy protecting their own interests that they are unwilling to be open, to expand or to share. That’s bad for all concerned, it seems to me. Educated young people live with their parents and fruitlessly hunt for jobs; the professions stagnate and suffer gross inefficiencies due to limited scope and size. Speedy reminded me that the current generation of Italians is called the NEETS (not in education, employment or training) generation (15 to 29 years-of-age), of which there are some 2 million. These NEETS comprise 11.2 % of this age group in Italy compared to 3.6% in Germany, 3.5% in France, 1.7% in the UK, and but .5% in Spain. All that talent going to waste! Clearly, this is a socio-economic problem that will have long-lasting effects unless the new government, and the Italian people, can turn around their unique approach to social management.
To an American it seems ludicrous. In the States it is relatively easy to start a business – all you need is a good idea and either money, or backers with money. Granted, some 35% of new businesses will fail within the first two years, but at least one has the opportunity to try. And if only 35% fail it means that 65% succeed, giving income and occupation to more people and, because of the competition generated, giving better services and lower prices to society in general .
It will be interesting to see how it all plays out in the months ahead. In the meantime, don’t get sick in Rome – it might be hard to find a cab to take you to the pharmacy. And if you’re visiting Italy from the States, do bring your own aspirin.
An Ex-Expatriate 
Hi, Louise, It’s Heejung. Happy New Year 2012! I thought you still were staying in US. I was very impressed with your cutty Christmas card!!!
Thanks a lot. Did you make its design for yourself? I showed it to our
young S/W engineers and they also very like it very much. Pharmacy in Italy is something like monopoly in all district. Taxi is also extremely expensive. And I was shocked the diesel price in Germany was more than 20% cheaper than that of Italy now. Food cost in Germany is cheaper too, but their income is much higher. The most two important things to be changed are politician and education in Italy. Without education, more desperate Italy…. I guess their beurocracy is due to exaggeration. I understand that many people living in peninsula are stubborn, but Koreans also listend the other’s opinion. That’s difference between Italian and Korean. I am one of the person still struggling in Italy…. I need aspirin from US too, ha.
Next Monday, 23rd of January is lunar New Year. Year of Dragon. I hope you have the happier 2012! Big kisses! Heejung
Hi, Heejung! I’m so happy to hear from you. We are still in the States where we find the food much more expensive than last year. Example: the coffee Speedy bought for about $9.00/lb last year is now $14/lb. That’s a pretty hefty increase. You are soooo right about education for the young – and after education there must be jobs for them. It’s no good to educate someone and then not give him an opportunity to put that education to work. I’ll bring you some aspirin!
PS Thanks for liking the Christmas card… we always have fun making them.
With unemployment of youth hovering @ 29%, Italians must feel torn – the solution of giving up benefits of established workers, lowering wages and benefits to allow hiring of new, cheaper workers is sure to cause friction – Fiat and some big corporations have workers on ‘short-time’ work (keeps the official unemployment rate around 8% since anyone working even 1 hour a week is considered ’employed’) – The huge number of illegal Chinese workers in the garment industry has to be an issue. And the Gelmini cuts in education grants, teaching, research cannot have helped. Like the US, Italy has more billionaires every year, more struggling lower earners. Gimme an aspirin!
Here, have two, drink plenty of water and call me in the morning! Seriously, there are no simple answers to the global economy. I have heard that there are a lot of illegal Chinese workers in the country, but haven’t seen much evidence of it in Rapallo. Different in Venice, I gather from reading Donna Leon. I’m beginning to wonder, too, if the ‘middle class’ was a 20th century anomaly. Let’s hope not!
I’m with Hillary! What a great way to add to that retirement income! I totally agree that things have got to change both for the sake of the country as a whole and for the younger generation in need of opportunity. However, I also sympathize with those trying to protect their “territory.” Change is difficult, and it is hard to strike a balance between tradition and progress.
Thank you for reminding me that change is difficult – it’s so true. And when traditions are as deep-rooted as they are in Italy, it is all the more difficult. But it makes me practically weep when I think of all the potential being wasted when young people can’t find work. It’s just not right.
Very interesting – and very sad.
I do hope Italy will be able to make the necessary reforms, not just for all the wonderful Italian people, but for the world economy as well. If Italy plunges into deep recession/depression, much of the industrial world will follow. And I rather like the world as it is, despite its obvious failings. The old saying though is “change is inevitable.” I wonder what changes we’ll see in the next decade?
The World Bank is predicting “a turbulent year ahead” for the global economy, with growth in Europe slowing from 5.3% in 1911 to a projected 3.2%. I believe the word ‘recession’ has been bandied about. It’s going to be quite a ride, I think, and quite interesting. In a bad way.
Hmmm. Sounds to me as though enterprising NEETs could make a killing in black market NSAIDS and aspirin. I do believe that you and Speedy should consider paying extra baggage fees on your return to Italy, the contents of which bags he could peddle to your NEET team on certain days at certain golf holes. There’s so much lovely room in those golf bags! If they ask me, I will tell the Carabinieri I have no idea where you could have gotten such an outlandish idea.
There’s only one problem with your otherwise brilliant scheme: Italians (at least the ones I know) aren’t awfully keen on taking pills, certainly not things like Ibu. Exams? yes. Tests? yes. Medication? no thanks. So I don’t know if we could find a market for all our NSAIDs – but what a good idea.
There is a pharmacy in our village – a licence to print money! As you said, the staff members are excellent and very knowledgeable and helpful. Painkillers are much more expensive than Australia and only available in pharmacies.
The pharmacist is the son and grandson of the previous owners. He rarely works, preferring to travel to other countries.
Hopefully super Monti will be able to bring in reforms in so many areas. It is criminal to see what is happening to young people in Italy.
Labour reforms are needed in so many areas.
We love our time in Italy, but I am very pleased I don’t have to work there.
I feel the same as you vis a vis working in Italy. Of course there wouldn’t be jobs for us anyway…