Dario Sciulli – författare

This book includes empirical contributions focusing on disadvantaged workers. According to the European Commission’s definition, disadvantaged workers include categories of workers with difficulties entering the labour market without assistance and hence, requiring the application of public measures aimed at improving their employment opportunities. In addition to the labour market perspective, this is also relevant in terms of social cohesion, which is one of the central objectives of the European Union and of its Member States. This work deals with the most relevant groups of disadvantaged workers, namely disabled workers, young workers, women living in depressed areas, migrants in the labour market and the long-term unemployed, and analyses the situation in the Italian, Spanish and some African labour markets. The determinants of disadvantage in the labour market are investigated, highlighting both the role of supply variables, including structural factors and the weakness on the demand side, the role of the economic crisis and the ineffectiveness of some labour policies. A complex framework emerges in which disadvantaged groups may share common problems, both in terms of integration into the labour market and in terms of working conditions, but often require group-specific policies, taking into account their intergroup heterogeneity.

This book includes empirical contributions focusing on disadvantaged workers. According to the European Commission’s definition, disadvantaged workers include categories of workers with difficulties entering the labour market without assistance and hence, requiring the application of public measures aimed at improving their employment opportunities. In addition to the labour market perspective, this is also relevant in terms of social cohesion, which is one of the central objectives of the European Union and of its Member States. This work deals with the most relevant groups of disadvantaged workers, namely disabled workers, young workers, women living in depressed areas, migrants in the labour market and the long-term unemployed, and analyses the situation in the Italian, Spanish and some African labour markets. The determinants of disadvantage in the labour market are investigated, highlighting both the role of supply variables, including structural factors and the weakness on the demand side, the role of the economic crisis and the ineffectiveness of some labour policies. A complex framework emerges in which disadvantaged groups may share common problems, both in terms of integration into the labour market and in terms of working conditions, but often require group-specific policies, taking into account their intergroup heterogeneity.

The book provides a panoramic approach to social exclusion, with emphasis on structural causes (education, health, accidents) and on short term causes connected with the crisis which started in 2008. The picture emerging, based on econometric analysis, is that the crisis has widened the risk of social exclusion, from the structural groups, like disabled people and formerly convicted people, to other groups, like the young, unemployed, low skilled workers and immigrants, in terms of income, poverty, health, unemployment, transition between occupational statuses, participation, leading to a widening of socio-economic duality. It has also been stressed the relevance of definitions of socio-economic outcomes for the evaluation of the crisis, and their consequences to define interventions to fight socio-economic effects of the economic downturn. The adequacy of welfare policies to cope with social exclusion, especially during a crisis, has been called into question.

The book provides a panoramic approach to social exclusion, with emphasis on structural causes (education, health, accidents) and on short term causes connected with the crisis which started in 2008. The picture emerging, based on econometric analysis, is that the crisis has widened the risk of social exclusion, from the structural groups, like disabled people and formerly convicted people, to other groups, like the young, unemployed, low skilled workers and immigrants, in terms of income, poverty, health, unemployment, transition between occupational statuses, participation, leading to a widening of socio-economic duality. It has also been stressed the relevance of definitions of socio-economic outcomes for the evaluation of the crisis, and their consequences to define interventions to fight socio-economic effects of the economic downturn. The adequacy of welfare policies to cope with social exclusion, especially during a crisis, has been called into question.