How the crisis is changing Italy, divorce and absenteeism become luxury goods

Italian newspaper Repubblica reports that Italy really is in dire economic crisis. How dire? Well, it turns out that both proving spouse infidelity as preparation to divorce, and tolerating absent employees have become stuff that only the richest can afford. A representative of a federation of italian private investigators said:

The crisis bites, and so do employers who can’t afford any more tolerance for absenteeism. These days, 60% of our business comes from companies that need evidence against absentees, to fire them or convince then to leave “voluntarily”. As an average, these checks take ⁴⁄₅ days and cost ¹⁵⁰⁰⁄₂₀₀₀ Euros, thanks to high tech tools like GPS trackers and hidden video cams.

That’s why, says the article, such investigations increased 30% from 2010 and this year exceed those on marital infidelity. The increase is even more interesting because it is only due to private companies: in Italy, Public Administrations can’t hire private investigators for this kind of checks.