Italian public administration minister Renato Brunetta says his tough stance against shirkers is reaping results after a ministry survey showed absenteeism in the state bureaucracy was down in May and June.

"Sick leave in the public administration was down 10 percent in May and 20 percent in June," he was quoted as saying by news agencies at a debate in the Alpine town of Cortina d'Ampezzo.

A pugnacious economics professor, he attributed the success to the "Brunetta effect".

State workers have a bad reputation in Italy for being lazy and taking unjustified sick leave, and on taking office in May Brunetta vowed to take action against the so-called "fannulloni", or "layabouts."

Brushing aside union protests, Brunetta's new rules aim to send medical inspectors to employees' homes after just one day off work, reduce sick workers' bonuses and force them to present medical certificates from ministry approved doctors only.

The measures are part of a broader drive to drastically reduce Italy's 3.5 million state workers and improve productivity by 20 percent, which Brunetta claims can save the state a massive 40 billion euros over the next 5 years.

The new rules had still not taken effect in June, but Brunetta said the reduction in sick leave was due to a different mentality he had immediately brought in. He forecast absenteeism would be down 30-40 percent by September.