Crisis, employment, income: what policies for households

Abstract

In Italy the worsening of the economic crisis has led to a general deterioration in households' economic conditions, with more intense effects in the South and among younger people. This work aims at providing an assessment of the social protection tools used in Italy during the crisis to support households as well as of the way policymakers chose to strengthen and improve them, putting more attention on the most disadvantaged categories and geographical areas. The analysis shows the inadequacy of the Italian social protection system, where social safety nets are still based today on the protection of open-ended contracts, while welfare focuses its resources on the elderly. The recent reform of social safety nets has reduced the imbalance between standard and atypical workers, although differences remain considerable. Against the risk of poverty a national and universal instrument still lacks. The result is an unequal impoverishment, in which young people and the South pay the highest price.