Disposable Workforce in Italy

This paper explores the “disposable” patterns of workforce utilization in Italy. The term “disposable” reflects the fact that people enter the labor market, their services are “used” as a disposable commodity for few years, after which they leave the labor market and are no longer observable in the official data. Out of 100 new young entries, only 70 are still in the labor market 10 years after entry if their first job spell was at least one year long. For those – three times as many - whose first job is short (< 3 months), 10-year survival does not reach 50%.