Labour market segmentation and workers' careers: the case of the Italian knitwear industry

Abstract

This paper reports on empirical research into the labour market in the knitwear and ready to-wear industry in the province of JVJodena (Emilia). In particular, it looks at the careers of three categories of workers: homeworkers, those employed on the production lines of larger firms, and artisans.1 Italy, in common with many other industrialised capitalist countries, has witnessed a growing decentralisation of production. This tendency has been differently interpreted but a consensus is emerging that such developments are not evidence of economic backward ness.2 On the contrary, an industrial structure consisting of firms of different size but with a large number of small and even 'microscopic' enterprises is increasingly being recog nised as one possible avenue of economic development. Taking this for granted, the aim of these notes is to investigate the structure of the labour market in a prosperous area typified by economic growth which has the small firm as its base element.