Italian Labour Market Research Articles

Albanian migrants’ career pathways and their responses to the challenges of the economic crisis in Italy

ABSTRACT This article explores the career pathways and work practices of Albanian labour migrants in Italy during the economic crisis. It shows how long-term migrants utilise resources accumulated from the early experiences of their (often) informal migratory pathway to address the crisis-induced structural and economic challenges. The questions we ask are: What career pathways have Albanian migrants followed while navigating the Italian labour market? What practices have they employed to respond to the challenges of the economic crisis? Through a biographical approach, we find that rather than victimising their own position, migrants have deployed different resources accumulated from the early stages of their migratory pathways, which they have combined to produce various practices of resilience, reworking and resistance against these new crisis-related challenges. Among them, return to informality and moral contract arrangements have become common practice. We argue that even though they considered informal contractual arrangements and other practices of resilience as provisional, the impact of these crisis-induced experiences is noticeable in the aftermath of the crisis as partially informal and, therefore, precarious arrangements have become established terms of employment for migrant workers. Our findings show that even permanent or naturalised migrants remain precarious and are not immune to the crisis-induced labour market restructuring.

It ain’t where you’re from, it’s where you’re at: Hiring origins, firm heterogeneity, and wages

Sequential auction models of labor market competition predict that the wages required to successfully poach a worker from a rival employer will depend on the productivities of both the poached and poaching firms. We develop a theoretically grounded extension of the two-way fixed effects model of Abowd et al. (1999) in which log hiring wages are comprised of a worker fixed effect, a fixed effect for the “destination” firm hiring the worker, and a fixed effect for the “origin” firm, or labor market state, from which the worker was hired. This specification is shown to nest the reduced form for hiring wages delivered by semi-parametric formulations of the canonical sequential auction model of Postel-Vinay and Robin (2002b) and its generalization in Bagger et al. (2014). Fitting the model to Italian social security records, origin effects are found to explain only 0.7% of the variance of hiring wages among job movers, while destination effects explain more than 23% of the variance. Across firms, destination effects are more than 13 times as variable as origin effects. Interpreted through the lens of Bagger et al. (2014)’s model, this finding requires that workers possess implausibly strong bargaining strength. Studying a cohort of workers entering the Italian labor market in 2005, we find that differences in origin effects yield essentially no contribution to the evolution of the gender gap in hiring wages, while differences in destination effects explain the majority of the gap at the time of labor market entry. These results suggest that where a worker is hired from tends to be relatively inconsequential for their wages in comparison to where they are currently employed.

The Role of Civil Society Organisations in the Integration of Migrants, Refugees and Asylum Seekers in the Italian Labour Market

In this paper, we address the role of civil society organisations (CSOs) in Italy with regard to the integration of migrants, asylum seekers and refugees (MRAs) in the labour market. The paper analyses the role played by CSOs in practice, looking at the dynamics of demand and offer of services through the perspective of both the CSOs and MRAs. To achieve this, we combine qualitative data from semi-structured interviews to CSO representatives as well as MRAs. Our findings point out that the fragmentation of the policy framework in terms of employment and integration, and an unfavourable legislation (above all, migration law) shape the kind of prevalent activities of CSOs and negatively impact the potential for integration of MRAs in the labour market. In general, much is left to the single CSO to fill in the needs of MRAs beyond minimal provisions established by law, with just asylum seekers and refugees having better opportunities and support. Furthermore, we can also observe how economic migrants generally tend to be less supported.

Skills for competitiveness: an empirical analysis of the educational provision for oenologists offered by Italian universities

ABSTRACT Purpose Whilst operating in the context of a high-income economy, the Italian labour market is affected by the considerable challenges of vertical mismatch, skill gaps and skill shortages. In such a context, the aim of this empirical study is to explore current university provision regarding the formal qualification of the oenologist, in order to assess its alignment with the professionalism demands from the wine sector. Design/Methodology/Approach The following was deployed to analyse university provision with a mixed method approach including social network analysis, cluster analysis and desk analyses based on descriptive statistics. Findings The comparative analysis outlined in the research on the basis of different educational activities shows that some degree courses would appear to be interchangeable. Furthermore, the study also shows a partial alignment between university educational provision and the skills required by stakeholders, thereby demonstrating the need to make changes in study programmes. Practical implications The authors hope that the evidence-based suggestions proffered herein may be used as a scientific basis to support the formulation of education policy at the ministerial level and as a guideline to plan and update academic curricula. Theoretical implications This research contributes to the scientific debate relating to the educational preparation of university graduates and their employability according to the requirements of the professional wine sector. It enriches the theoretical framework of evidence-based educational research, offering alternative avenues for interpretation about the similarity profiles of educational provision. Originality/Values To the best of our knowledge, the research laid out in this paper is innovative in the field of educational literature due to its use of different methodologies and techniques to obtain results, thereby proposing a wider and alternative use of well known analytical methods.

Active Ageing in Italy: A Systematic Review of National and Regional Policies.

Active ageing is defined as the process of optimizing opportunities for health, participation and security in order to enhance quality of life as people age. The design of active ageing policies intersects with different overarching societal challenges, especially ageing populations, social rights and sustainability. However, there are no previous attempts to review active ageing policies in the light of these challenges and the international policy objectives and targets that are guiding the international community. The aim of this study is to systematically identify, review and analyse all national and regional policies on active ageing adopted in Italy, by applying a conceptual framework derived from main international policy initiatives in the three areas. The research was conducted in two stages. First, a case study analysis was carried out per each relevant national institution and regional government. Standardised interviews were combined with policy document search, selection and analysis. Second, we performed a policy analysis in the light of a conceptual framework adopted. This latter was composed by nine policy domains, selected and integrated from principles and objectives of three overarching international frameworks on ageing—i.e., the Regional Implementation Strategy (RIS) commitments of the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing (MIPAA), social rights—i.e., the European Pillar of Social Rights and sustainability—i.e., the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development. Results pointed out that out of the identified nine policy fields, the major intervention areas by Italian policy makers concerned labour market participation, life-long learning, social and economic inequalities, health and well-being. Less attention had been given to issues such as gender and equal opportunities and sustainable cities. This systematic policy review is a milestone for understanding how active ageing policies contribute to address major societal challenges and what domains need further policy development.

Earnings dynamics and labor market reforms: The Italian case

This paper summarizes statistics on the key aspects of the distribution of earnings levels and earnings changes using administrative (social security) data from Italy between 1985 and 2016. During the time covered by our data, earnings inequality and earnings volatility increased, while earnings mobility did not change significantly. We connect these trends with some salient facts about the Italian labor market, in particular the labor market reforms of the 1990s and 2000s, which induced a substantial rise in fixed‐term and part‐time employment. The rise in part‐time work explains much of the rise in earnings inequality, while the rise in fixed‐term contracts explains much of the rise in volatility. Both of these trends affect the earnings distribution through hours worked: part‐time jobs reduce hours worked within a week, while fixed‐term contracts reduce the number of weeks worked during the year as well as increase their volatility. We only find weak evidence that fixed‐term contracts represent a “stepping‐stone” to permanent employment. Finally, we offer suggestive evidence that the labor market reforms contributed to the slowdown in labor productivity in Italy by delaying human capital accumulation (in the form of general and firm‐specific experience) of recent cohorts.

Scarring Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Italian Labour Market

Scarring Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Italian Labour Market

The impact of Chinese import competition on Italian manufacturing

AbstractThis paper documents the effects of increased import competition from China on the Italian labor market. In line with recent studies, we take two complementary approaches and study both the effects on local labor markets and on manufacturing workers. Our analysis shows that the Italian local labor markets which were more exposed to Chinese trade by means of their industry composition ended up suffering larger manufacturing and overall employment losses. Nevertheless, back‐of‐the‐envelope calculations suggest that the aggregate effect on total manufacturing employment is modest. At the individual level, contrary to what has been documented for many developed countries, workers initially employed in more exposed manufacturing industries did not suffer long‐term losses in terms of lower earnings or more discontinuous careers. While they were indeed less likely than other similar workers to continue working in manufacturing, they were also able to carry out successful transitions toward the non‐tradable sector, in other areas with better job opportunities.

Is There a Gender Imbalance in the Italian Labor Market?

Women who decide to enter the labor market should, at least in theory, have access to any profession. Actually, it is something that does not always happen and their ambitions are relegated to few jobs (i.e., teachers, nurses, cashiers,) often linked to social stereotypes characterized by low wages, tasks that are inappropriate to their educational qualifications and of course with few career prospects. All that creates a gender imbalance of individuals in the labor market known as segregation. The objective of this paper is to focus on the aforementioned issue through a qualitative and quantitative survey based on the analysis of statistical indicators compared in two years (2009 and 2020), taking into account the social variations of the time span that elapses between the two years observed. The results show that gender employment segregation has been opposed over time, but not adequately resolved by concrete policies that can counter the phenomenon under consideration. Therefore, it is not enough to increase women's employment without pursuing a path of qualitative growth in women's work.

Temporary jobs and increasing inequality for recent cohorts in Italy

AbstractUsing tax‐based longitudinal microdata from 1985 to 2016, I document how the widening income distribution in Italy is driven by younger cohorts. Entry wages started to decrease around the mid‐1990s, at the same time returns to experience of new entrants in the labour market declined. Falling wage growth is linked to the institutional changes that occurred in the Italian labour market in the decade across the 2000s. I examine the impact of Italian labour market reforms on cohort‐specific wage inequality by looking at the relationship between the number of temporary job spells and individual earnings. Results confirm that young and high‐skilled new entrants show higher wage differential in comparison to older workers and that the increase in temporary jobs is a crucial factor in explaining the cohort wage gap.

Mobility in times of pandemics: Evidence on the spread of COVID19 in Italy's labour market areas

We investigate the interplay between the local spread of COVID-19 and patterns of individual mobility within and across self-contained geographical areas. Conceptually, we connect the debate on regional development in the presence of shocks with the literature on spatial labour markets and address some research questions about the role of individual mobility in affecting the spread of the disease. By looking at granular flows of Facebook users moving within and across Italian labour market areas (LMAs), we analyse whether their heterogeneous internal and external mobility has had a significant impact on excess mortality. We also explore how individual mobility plays different roles in LMAs hosting industrial districts – characterised by a thicker local labour market and denser business and social interactions – and with a high presence of “essential sectors” - activities not affected by the COVID-19 containment measures taken by the Italian government at the onset of the crisis.

Lavoro agile emergenziale tra obblighi di tutela della persona ed esigenze dell’impresa

The need to contain the pandemic in the past year has given a formidable boost to the use of human resources in a smart way. Companies have had the opportunity to employ their employees by derogating from the rules defined in Law 81/2017. The emergency discipline has introduced a simplification that has apparently facilitated the use of remote work performance, leaving the structure of responsibility for companies unchanged. This extraordinary opportunity to experiment with the agile way of working has led companies to use their human resources remotely without a precise risk analysis, without adopting adequate security measures, without regulation on management, disciplinary and control power. Smart working was used as a business continuity tool, but according to Istat, the Italian labor market has experienced a drop in productivity, a drop in efficiency, as well as negative consequences on the interpersonal relationships of workers. The study intends to examine how, during the use of smart working, extensive employer obligations to protect the physical and moral personality of employees persist and the need for an adequate risk assessment that allows the preparation of timely information on the health risks and on the processing of personal data. The need to protect companies, personal data being processed and secret company data in the case of smart working suggests adopting an organizational system that develops new methods of remuneration linked to the achievement of objectives and that allows effective and efficient internal disciplinary control. on the worker and on the activities so as to allow, in the most serious cases, the possible intervention of the police with computer search tools. The final reflections analyze the need / opportunity to organize the use of smart working in a uniform manner within the company, enhancing the potential of smart contracts via blockchain to protect employers' needs for accountability.

Migration, Class Attainment and Social Mobility: An Analysis of Migrants’ Socio-Economic Integration in Italy

AbstractThis article focuses on the socio-economic integration of ethnic minorities in Italy, combining the literature on migration with research on social stratification. We analyse the ethnic penalty on occupational attainment and career mobility, integrating the origin–education–destination theoretical framework with the migration status. Since ethnic penalty is an ‘umbrella concept’, we also quantify the extent to which it is mediated by differences in education and social origin. Furthermore, adopting a diachronic view of migrants’ class attainment, we verify whether the post-migration downgrading is followed by a recovery during the career, considering also mobility within the working class (standard and non-standard). Our analyses are based on the Multipurpose Survey on Households and Social Condition and Integration of Foreign Citizens. The results show that migrants are penalized in the Italian labour market, remaining largely ‘trapped’ in the working class. This inclusion at the bottom of the class structure reduces their heterogeneity by education and by social origin. Moreover, their penalty increases during the career, except when they move from the non-standard to the standard working class. Finally, we find that the ‘unexplained’ component of ethnic penalty, net of education and social origin, is substantial and increases from the first to the current job.

Even worse than the undocumented? Assessing the refugees’ integration in the labour market of Lombardy (Italy) in 2001–2014

AbstractThe paper aimed to assess possible gaps in labour market integration or refugees compared with other migrants, including irregular migrants in the Italian region of Lombardy in 2001–2014. Despite the Italian labour market's remarkable capacity to integrate foreign workers, our findings support the results of studies carried out in other contexts on a ‘refugee gap’ in labour market integration. Our research shows that refugees have more considerable difficulties integrating into the labour market than other migrants and notably compared with their co‐nationals, including those undocumented that may be in refugee‐like situations. Refugees show higher unemployment levels, irregular employment and a higher incidence of very low monthly work‐related incomes compared with other regular migrants. At the same time, they show higher levels of unemployment compared with irregular migrants.

Firing Costs and Job Loss: The Case of the Italian Jobs Act

A recent reform in the Italian labour market has modified the permanent contract by reducing firing costs. Using a discontinuity in the application of the reform, we evaluate its effect on the probability of being still employed about three and a half years later. In contrast with theoretical predictions, we find that the job survival probability is not smaller for the treated and even significantly larger in some cases. We investigate the composition of permanent workers hired after the reform and we find evidence of treated firms changing their recruitment strategy in favour of potentially more productive workers.

Financial stability and local economic development: the experience of Italian labour market areas

Regulators should ensure the smooth functioning of the system and promote regional development. Making the health of financial institutions is therefore a prerequisite for a sustainable economic development. This paper contributes to the literature on the relationship between the financial stability and growth within the area of one country. This implies that institutional, legal, and cultural factors are more adequately controlled for and financial markets are more accurately bounded. Using a rich sample of Italian banks over the 2001–2012 period, this paper addresses whether different measures of financial distress affect economic development of labour market areas in Italy. Results show that the financial stability has a positive effect on local economic development, robust to alternative variables capturing financial vulnerability. The presence of spatial effects is tested showing that better financial conditions of the banking system in neighbouring areas have a detrimental effect on an area’s growth.

The status of immigrants on Italian labour market in the context of economic decline: Evidence from survey, macroeconomic and big data

Considering the impact of economic crisis on Italian labour market, the aim of this paper is to analyse the status of immigrants from Italy in the labour field using more sources of data: survey data from the research “Case study of Labour Force Survey”, macroeconomic data from official statistics of Eurostat and big data associated to Internet queries on Google. Survey analysis for the 20 regions in Italy confirmed the foreign women advantage of finding a job better than foreign men. The decline in the GDP at regional level affected the immigrants, but their searches for jobs on the Internet were significant in explaining the status of immigrants on labour market. The data at national level used in estimating Bayesian generalized ridge regression suggested that the number of unemployed immigrants from Italy since 2008 is explained by changes in risk of poverty or social exclusion, exports of goods and services, housing cost overburden rate, inflation and tax rate on low wage earners and adult participation in learning.

Escape from parents' basement? Post COVID-19 scenarios for the future of youth employment in Italy

As one of the worst-affected European countries by COVID-19 experiences a slow return to normality, all eyes are on what lies ahead. The labor market implications generated by weeks of drastic lockdown might be far-reaching, and uncertainty about the future of jobs in Italy increases. In this time of significant changes, fleshing out a range of possible future developments could help mitigate part of the uncertainty by guiding decisions at an institutional level. This research employs an intuitive logics approach (IL) to scenario development, which is particularly suited to support decision-making (Kosow and Gaßner, 2008) by deriving the implications of different courses of action. Following the IL method, this study appoints 17 experts to qualify the driving forces of youth employoment in Italy according to their level of uncertainty and impact. The results of this paper are four plausible scenarios derived from the intersection of the two highly uncertain and impactful driving forces most likely to be affected by COVID-19: the state of the economy and a skills mismatch between labor demand and supply. Although all four scenarios foresee a negative impact of the crisis on the labor market, this work shows how the government, its agencies, and supranational institutions might mitigate adverse effects by designing and implementing youth skills interventions. This research contributes to the efforts of the academic community in response to the current emergency by improving our understanding of policy options in the Italian labor market context.

Italexit and the Impact of Immigrants from Italy on the Italian Labor Market

Considering the recent debates regarding Brexit and the potential negative effects of immigrants on Italian labor market, the main aim of this paper is to assess the impact of immigrants from Italy on the labor market of this country using econometric techniques. Based on these results, one answer regarding the potential exit of Italy from the EU (Italexit) because of the immigration issue is provided. According to a Johansen co-integration test, there was not any long-run relationship between the number of EU immigrants from Italy and the variation of unemployment rate in the period from 1990 to 2019. The estimations based on Bayesian ridge regressions indicated that the number of EU immigrants did not affect labor cost index in business economy, manufacturing or industry, construction and services in the period 2001–2019. The variation in employed immigrants from Italy in the period 2008–2019 depends on changes in risk of poverty or social exclusion, housing cost overburden rate, exports of goods and services, inflation and tax rate on low wage earners and adult participation in learning.

Work-Life Balance in Italy pre-, during and post-COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic is bringing immense pressure to bear on labour law and social security institutions in all countries of the world, while having a major impact on work-life balance. The total lockdown, also of schools and higher education, the unprecedented fall in the level of production, the reduced possibility of relying on other family members, friends and domestic workers, traditionally constituting the essential pillars of formal and informal caring, in addition to working from home with children doing their schooling online (in large part on the parents’ shoulders) have compelled families to face new and abrupt organizational changes. The aim of this article is to investigate the legislative measures such as parental leave (ordinary and emergency) adopted in Italy aimed at supporting families during the pandemic, with a view to assessing their effectiveness and the impact on the Italian labour market during and after the pandemic. For this purpose, the socio-economic and legal framework dealing with parental leave before the COVID-19 emergency will be outlined, followed an the analysis of the emergency measures to provide support for parents, concluding with some reflections on possible future developments.