Non-Standard Employment and Quality of Work: The Case of Italy

Description

The international literature on non-standard employment has mostly focussed on its impact on employment, and more recently on working and living conditions. This volume explores these issues with special reference to Italy. Italy is characterized by very low participation rates (particularly women’s), a high degree of fragmentation of labour contracts and a very intense non-standard work diffusion that make this context a particularly interesting case for analysis. New elements of discussion are provided with reference to the interaction of non-standard work, employment probability and living conditions. Interesting insights on the impact of non-standard work on the transition to stable employment and workers’ careers emerge, suggesting a possible failure of companies’ internal systems of work evaluation. The effects on labour productivity and on companies’ performance are analysed. Within this framework, a new perspective on quality of work is suggested. Front Matter....Pages i-xii Introduction....Pages 1-21 Front Matter....Pages 23-23 A Microeconometric Analysis of Female Labour Force Participation in Italy....Pages 25-37 Balancing Work and Family: New Mothers’ Employment Decisions During Childbearing....Pages 39-52 Part-Time and Temporary Employment: A Gender Perspective....Pages 53-75 Front Matter....Pages 77-77 The Quality of Temporary Work....Pages 79-103 Temporary Help Workers in Italy. Where Do They Come From and Where Do They Go?....Pages 105-125 The Dynamics of Unemployment, Temporary and Permanent Employment in Italy....Pages 127-147 Labour Market Segmentation, Flexibility and Precariousness in the Italian North East....Pages 149-172 Front Matter....Pages 173-173 Quality of Work: The Case of Part-Time Work in Italy....Pages 175-188 Does Part-Time Mean Part-Satisfaction?....Pages 189-203 Workers’ Lifestyle Choices, Working Time and Job Attributes....Pages 205-229 Front Matter....Pages 231-231 Non-Standard Employment and Quality of Work: Towards New Forms of Measurement....Pages 233-260 Is There a Trade-off Between Labour Flexibility and Productivity Growth? Some Evidence from Italian Firms....Pages 261-285