The Guaranteed Minimum Income («Reddito di Cittadinanza») in Southern Italy: from a Labour Market Policy to a Local Development Strategy

The paper aims to provide an evaluation of the Guaranteed Minimum Income (the Italian Reddito di Cittadinanza, RdC) defined by the legislator as a «fundamental labour market policy», by investigating the levels of education and skills gap of a RdC targeted group, located in Southern Italy. After an overview of the Labour Market Policies, the research deals with the features of the RdC group, with a focus on the younger components. Firstly, given the lack of official data, a survey was conducted among 64 «Navigators» (professionals entitled to implement the policy) of the regions considered. They answered to questions on the level of education and skills of the RdC group. To respond to the RQs, a Manual Content Analysis methodology was applied. The results indicate that most of younger people who receive the economic grant have a low education level; also, many of them do not feel the need to attend compulsory education programmes, which constitutes the legal qualification to access extracurricular internships. Beyond quantitative data, the choice of involving the Navigators also provides qualitative clues and valuable suggestions for a wider evaluation of the Labour Market Policies system in Southern Italy. The analysis, in fact, shows the need for a general training action, not only related to the specific problem of internshisp, but also to give a systemic solution for a general upskilling and reskilling, in accordance with the new economic production model.