Young People and Employment in Italy: The (Difficult) Transition from Education and Training to the Labour Market

This paper focuses on the employment of young people in Italy in a comparative perspective, starting with a survey of the policies adopted for addressing the chronic weakness of young people in the Italian labour market. It is argued that higher education can and should play a key role in improving the employability of those coming onto the labour market. The critical state of the Italian labour market is examined in relation to the proposals put forward in the White Paper on the Labour Market in October 2001, highlighting the importance of the links between secondary and higher education and the labour market, and the measures provided in the Biagi Law (Act no. 30/2003) and Legislative Decree no. 276/2003