From polarisation to precarisation of the Italian labour market

The essay explores the evolution of the "never ending reform" in the field of individual and collective labour relations in Italy during the past decade, trying to underline the connection between legal interventions in labour law, the fragmentation of businesses and the creation of bigger inequalities among employees, whose importance has been clearly felt in the years of austerity policies. From this perspective, the author focuses on how the legal framework, as a result of the EU occupational and economic governance, has initially allowed a certain polarisation of the Italian labour market and then, in the most recent years, even fostered a generalised precarisation of economic and legal protections provided for workers.