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I have translated employee into Italian. I have found two translations. What is the difference between "dipendente m" or "impiegato m"?

Sentences:
1) Peter is an employee of Nestle.
2) Microsoft has more than 50'000 employees worlwide.

Thank you.

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3 Answers 3

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NOTE: I looked in various dictionaries and I cannot find a definition that shows a clear difference. What follows is simply my understanding of it.

The word dipendente is pretty much a synonymous of employee: someone who is employed by someone else to do a job (usually, but not necessarily, a long term job). The word impiegato is used to mean an employee that works in an office, similar to what you might call in English office-worker.

I should add that the word dipendente has a second, less common, meaning as dependant, that is a person whose livelihood depends on someone else (e.g. children or elderly relatives). This is rarely used outside of legal writing though.

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    Another good definition is that an impiegato is someone who has a low-end white-collar job.
    – Federico Poloni
    Commented Oct 14, 2016 at 9:59
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This is an old question, but I want to explain my point of view:

The difference, in Italian language, between two words exists, infact:

Dipendente Is a person has a job in the enterprise and have a contract as

  • fixed-term contract
  • permanent contract

Impiegato Indicates a job title (in italian qualifica)

If you image a set theory to explain this, you can use a set about dipendente term and in this set you have a subset represented by impiegato, another by operaio (worker), quadro and so on.

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  • I can sort of see where your view comes from, but how would it be consistent with a standard dictionary definition such as “Persona che svolge continuativamente la propria attività professionale, esclusa la prestazione di semplice mano d’opera, alle dipendenze altrui, dietro pagamento di una retribuzione” (Treccani)?
    – DaG
    Commented Nov 21, 2016 at 18:42
  • @DaG: you refer on term "impiegato". In this defintion you have "esclusa la prestazione di semplice mano d'opera", but a "dipendente" can be employeed on "prestazione di semplice mano d'opera" if he is an "operaio" (worker)
    – Joe Taras
    Commented Nov 22, 2016 at 9:02
  • I agree, it is a subset, but I am not sure about the “job title” definition, but rather on a kind of work (office as opposed to office, factory and everything else).
    – DaG
    Commented Nov 22, 2016 at 11:00
  • @DaG: Is it possible I've translated "job title" in wrong way. The correct term is italian Qualifica (may be it must be translated with other english term?)
    – Joe Taras
    Commented Nov 22, 2016 at 11:03
  • Passiamo un attimo all'italiano. Intendi quella che qui è l'accezione 2.b, no? quello che dici mi sembra un po' troppo riduttivo rispetto all'uso comune della parola “impiegato”, ma magari è corretto rispetto al diritto del lavoro, non ne so abbastanza.
    – DaG
    Commented Nov 22, 2016 at 11:08
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"Impiegato" is a role , usually an office worker.

"Dipendente" is a subordinate worker

A "impiegato" is a particular "dipendente".

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    This answer is a bit poor, and does not add much to what has already been answered. Would you try to make it better?
    – user525
    Commented Nov 22, 2016 at 9:35
  • I was just trying to give a short and simple answer.
    – Michele Ceo
    Commented Nov 22, 2016 at 11:43

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