Documents Scherer, Stefani 6 results

"Negli ultimi decenni, numerosi paesi industrializzati hanno sperimentato un aumento della disuguaglianza economica, e importanti trasformazioni demografiche (l'aumento delle famiglie mononucleari) e economiche (l'aumento dell'occupazione femminile) della famiglia. Quest'articolo comparativo studia in che modo tali fenomeni siano associati, ovvero se le trasformazioni della famiglia abbiano trainato i cambiamenti della disuguaglianza nel reddito famigliare disponibile equivalente; e in che misura le istituzioni - famiglia, stato e mercato - plasmino la disuguaglianza attraverso la (re)distribuzione del reddito tra le famiglie. Le analisi si focalizzano su cinque paesi (Danimarca, Germania, Italia, Regno Unito e Stati Uniti) appartenenti a diversi regimi di welfare, dalla meta degli anni '80 alla meta degli anni 2000. L'articolo mostra come le istituzioni svolgano un ruolo fondamentale nel plasmare le disuguaglianze di reddito e il benessere economico di individui e famiglie, sebbene con variazioni tra i regimi. Tuttavia, le trasformazioni sperimentate dalla famiglia non hanno guidato i cambiamenti nella disuguaglianza."

La "flessibilizzazione" del mercato del lavoro è stata proposta come una risposta alla crisi economica e come requisito per la crescita economica e occupazionale. Molti paesi europei hanno optato per un modello specifico di deregolamentazione del mercato del lavoro "parziale e selettiva", aumentando i cosiddetti rapporti di lavoro "non-standard", mentre la regolazione dei rapporti di lavoro già esistenti rimaneva in gran parte invariata. L'Italia è un esempio di questa strategia di "deregolamentazione ai margini". In questo paper, che si basa sui risultati di un più ampio progetto di ricerca, indaghiamo il processo in corso di "flessibilizzazione" del mercato del lavoro italiano e le sue conseguenze, sia a livello micro sia in termini di disuguaglianze sociali. Lo facciamo analizzando in una prospettiva longitudinale le singole carriere occupazionali, economiche e demografiche. I nostri risultati mostrano come la specifica forma di flessibilizzazione, abbia portato a forti cleavages sociali oltre che ad una ulteriore segmentazione del mercato del lavoro, favorendo un processo di accumulazione dei rischi sociali sulle coorti più giovani (e sulle donne). Tuttavia, le conseguenze negative non sono limitate alle carriere professionali, colpiscono anche la vita privata e familiare dei soggetti. Metodologicamente, utilizziamo event history analisis e modelli panel per far fronte ai problemi di eterogeneità non osservata, applicati ai dati ILFI, Eu/It-Silc, Istat FSS 2009, integrati da informazioni tratte da ECHP e dall'European Social Survey."

"This article addresses the question of whether the first job functions as a ‘stepping stone' or as a ‘trap'. It does so by using individual longitudinal data to estimate the consequences on future occupational attainment of entry into the labour market via (a) ‘under-qualified' jobs or (b) via temporary contracts. A cross-national comparison of West Germany, Great Britain and Italy allows assessment of the impact of different labour market structures on this allocation process. With regard to ‘under-qualified' positions, the findings are not consistent with the stepping-stone hypothesis but provide some support for the entrapment hypothesis. Despite the greater mobility chances of over-qualified workers, the initial disadvantage associated with status-inadequate jobs is not fully overcome during their future careers. The article shows, however, that the negative effects are not due to the mismatch as such but rather to the relatively lower level positions. These effects are mediated by the national labour market structure, with the British flexible model providing the best chances of making up for initial disadvantages, and the more tightly regulated and segmented markets in Germany and Italy leading to stronger entrapment in lower status positions. No negative effects of the type of contract are found for later occupational positions in any of the countries."

" Maternal employment is still below the overall EU recommended level of 60% in many European countries. Understanding the individual, household and contextual circumstances under which mothers of children of different ages are likely to be employed is crucial to develop strategies capable of increasing maternal employment. This article takes a comparative approach to investigating the characteristics associated with maternal employment in the presence of children aged 0–2, 3–5, 6–9 and 10–12 years. We model the probability of being employed full-time, part-time or being a homemaker using EU-SILC data (2004 to 2007) from Germany, Italy, Norway and the United Kingdom – four countries belonging to different gender and welfare regimes. The results indicate that individual and household characteristics are more relevant in determining mothers' employment in countries where the state is less supportive towards maternal employment: Italy and to a lesser extent Germany and the UK – for the period observed."

"In this article, we provide a longitudinal account of institutionally originated, cohort inequalities in a two-tier labour market, taking Italy as an exemplary case of partial and targeted deregulation. We examine the incidence and career consequences of temporary employment relying on panel data, across reforms implemented in the 1990s and early 2000s. A substitution effect is found for the initial stages of workers' careers: while the youngest cohorts of school-leavers increasingly enter the flexible labour market, access to stable positions is hampered. Previous experiences in the flexible segment of the labour force also increase the risk of entrapment in temporary jobs. This lock-in dynamic is more visible for post-reforms cohorts and might have increased labour market inefficiency. Indeed, the entrapment risk has risen disproportionately for those individuals whose (un)observed characteristics could instead predict a faster exit from the flexible labour market, possibly towards stable positions. Our findings cast doubts on the transitory nature of temporary work in Italy and on the efficiency of partial and targeted reforms."

"Women still earn less than men and continue to perform the bulk of domestic activities. Several studies documented a negative individual wage–housework relation, suggesting that gender discrepancies in housework may explain the gender wage gap. Less attention has been paid to the role of the partner's unpaid work and to the extent that intra-household inequalities relate to inequalities outside the house. The present study attempts to fill this gap in the literature. We exploit EU-SILC 2010 data for Germany and Italy and PSID 2009 data for the US. Results suggest the importance of accounting for a partner's housework when evaluating the determinants of individual wages and the gender wage gap. Women seem not to profit from their partners' housework; instead, women's non-market work increases their partners' earnings while decreasing their own earnings. This suggests the importance of reducing women's involvement in domestic work in order to close gender wage equalities."