ABSTRACT

In the area of employment and education, Italy has experienced evolutionary, rather than revolutionary, change over the past fifteen years. There have been substantial changes in employment, notably in the service sector owing to the higher number of women in the workforce, an increase in unemployment rates as a result of economic recession, a marked tendency for young people to continue studying well beyond the minimum school-leaving age and an increase in vocational and continuing training. For the most part, however, the main features of the employment and education systems have not been subject to radical change. The analysis of these systems and current academic interest in this area seem to be conditioned by various aspects of the Italian situation which form the ‘specific collective experience’, to borrow the expression coined by Bonazzi (1992). Regarding education and work, three factors seem to have had a particular influence on the policy debate and research themes: geographical diversity based on a strong collective identity at regional level, the influence of trade unionism and the system of industrial relations, and the weakness of state initiatives and coordination in this area.