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Changing Labour Market Opportunities for Young People in Italy and the Role of the Family of Origin

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  • Gabriella Berloffa
  • Francesca Modena
  • Paola Villa

Abstract

This paper considers the increased incidence of insecure job conditions for young individuals entering the Italian labour market and their chances of moving to a more secure job-condition after a reasonable period of time. In particular, we investigate empirically whether and how long-term changes in labour market institutions and conditions have modified the role of the family of origin for both labour market entry and subsequent transitions. We use the Italian Households Longitudinal Study (Ilfi) and show that employment opportunities have changed quite significantly in Italy over the past three decades (from the late 1970s to the early 2000s). For an increasing share of young adults precariousness extends for quite a long period of the working life. The family of origin reduces the probability of insecurity both in the early 1980s and during the 1990s, but in a different way: in the early 1980s, it has an effect in the entry year, but not subsequently; after the implementation of the Treu reform (1997), its effect appears only in the years following the entry one. Our overall results suggest that the rapid expansion of insecure contractual arrangements in the 1990s-early 2000s have produced increasing difficulties in terms of transitions to a «better» job condition (i.e. into secure employment), which enhanced the role of the family of origin in overcoming them, generating new inequalities among young Italians.

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  • Gabriella Berloffa & Francesca Modena & Paola Villa, 2014. "Changing Labour Market Opportunities for Young People in Italy and the Role of the Family of Origin," Rivista italiana degli economisti, Società editrice il Mulino, issue 2, pages 227-252.
  • Handle: RePEc:mul:jqat1f:doi:10.1427/77083:y:2014:i:2:p:227-252
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    2. Emanuela Ghignoni, 2017. "Who do you know or what do you know? Informal recruitment channels, family background and university enrolments," Working Papers in Public Economics 179, University of Rome La Sapienza, Department of Economics and Law.
    3. Gabriella BERLOFFA & Eleonora MATTEAZZI & Alina ŞANDOR & Paola VILLA, 2016. "Youth employment security and labour market institutions: A dynamic perspective," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 155(4), pages 651-678, December.
    4. Floro Ernesto Caroleo & Elvira Ciociano & Sergio Destefanis, 2017. "The role of the education systems and the labour market institutions in enhancing youth employment: a cross-country analysis," Discussion Papers 1_2017, CRISEI, University of Naples "Parthenope", Italy.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Youth Occupational Outcomes; Precarious Employment; Family of Origin; Italy.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D6 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics
    • J2 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor

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