Paola Villa

• PhD ( University of Cambridge, 1984)
• University of Trento

This article analyzes the intergenerational correlation of employment between young women (at about 30 years of age) and their mothers (when their daughters were about 14 years old), using 2011 European Union Survey on Income and Living Conditions data. It examines the extent to which this correlation varies across 19 European countries and is asso...

The Great Recession had profound consequences for the quantity and quality of work for young people in European countries. Usual labour market indicators capture only some crisis effects, highlighting the need for a more dynamic and nuanced approach. As a result, this paper adopts an innovative approach to both the analysis of the integration of yo...

This paper presents a new approach to evaluating individuals’ employment quality, considering the evolution of individuals’ employment conditions over a period of time, instead of the quality of jobs held at a point in time. In particular, we present a new definition of employment quality, based on four dimensions: employment security, income secur...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate gender differences in employment status trajectories of young Europeans during their initial labour market experience, and the way in which they are affected by some labour market institutions. Design/methodology/approach The empirical analysis is based on EU-SILC longitudinal data (waves 2006–...

This chapter examines how intergenerational transmission of worklessness varies according to the gender of parents and their children in 26 European countries. The analysis draws on EU-SILC 2011 cross-sectional data, using a sample of young people aged 25–34 years for whom information about parental background characteristics when the young people...

This chapter provides an integrated analysis of the findings from this volume. It discusses the challenges presented from comparing youth transitions across countries, the importance of using a wider range of indicators, and a more comprehensive policy focus. The chapter argues that the concept of economic production encapsulates some of the key di...

This chapter adopts a critical perspective on policymaking in European labor markets before, during, and after the Great Recession. Using extensive analysis of recent policies at the flexibility–security interface, the chapter identifies four key weaknesses in relation to young people: There was an over-reliance on supply-side policies and quantita...

This chapter adopts a dynamic approach to the study of youth labor market integration. It focuses on individual trajectories (i.e., sequences of employment statuses) and considers the timing, order, and length of employment and jobless spells. It uses EU-SILC longitudinal data (2006–2012) for 17 countries to depict youth employment outcomes in two...

This introductory chapter outlines the key trends and debates concerning the rapid growth of youth unemployment and early career labor market insecurity in Europe. It discusses new forms of segmentation and the distinction between “poorly integrated youth” and those “left behind” in relation to gender, ethnicity, and class inequalities. The chapter...

Youth transitions to employment and adulthood have become increasingly protracted and precarious. The Great Recession exacerbated these difficulties. The varied European experiences affect young people differently in terms of their gender, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status, even in successful countries. Youth Labor in Transition examines young pe...

Youth transitions to employment and adulthood have become increasingly protracted and precarious. The Great Recession exacerbated these difficulties. The varied European experiences affect young people differently in terms of their gender, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status, even in successful countries. Youth Labor in Transition examines young pe...

Exacerbated by the Great Recession, youth transitions to employment and adulthood have become increasingly protracted, precarious, and differentiated by gender, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. Youth Labor in Transition examines young people's integration into employment, alongside the decisions and consequences of migrating to find work and la...

The first book of its kind, Gender Budgeting in Europe explores conceptual and methodological variations evidence in practice in Europe and the challenges of adoption and implementation in different political and institutional contexts. It brings together historical and current conceptual developments and tensions; approaches, methodologies, and to...

Reductions in public spending and the dominance of austerity since 2008 have characterized public policy decisions in Europe. Decisions on resource allocation, public service design and reform, changes in social security spending and tax revenue, and in the fiscal rules applied by the EU have significantly affected women’s financial security and au...

This paper investigates the influence of parental employment status during adolescence on adult children’s labour outcomes across European country groups, according to the gender of both parents and children. Our aim is to examine whether this influence is stronger within mother–daughter and father–son relationships or whether mothers play a role a...

Résumé Considérant qu'aujourd'hui la sécurité des parcours professionnels importe plus que la stabilité dans le poste, les auteures décident d'analyser la situation des jeunes Européens sur le marché du travail cinq ans après la fin de leurs études en se fondant sur les changements de statut d'activité mensuels et sur la durée d'emploi effective. E...

Resumen El interés político en la seguridad del empleo ya no se centra en la estabilidad laboral, sino en la empleabilidad, lo cual exige cambios en el modo de evaluar el desempeño de los jóvenes en el mercado de trabajo. Con datos sobre la evolución mensual de la situación laboral y sobre la duración real del empleo, se investigan ambos parámetros...

The shift of policy focus from job security to employment security that occurred over the last decade requires the adoption of a dynamic perspective on young people's labour market performance. In this paper, we propose new measures of individual employment security based on monthly employment status trajectories, and on the permanence in the job o...

The Great Recession impacted strongly on the European Union (EU), and especially on the peripheral countries of the eurozone. In the first phase of the crisis, the fall in GDP resulted in job destruction only partly offset by the European Economic Recovery Plan. Its outbreak coincided with the end of the Lisbon Strategy and the launch of Europe 202...

The paper considers how the severe and long downturn in the first phase of the crisis, followed by fiscal consolidation (austerity policies) in its second phase, have heavily impacted on women and men in Italy. It argues that the effects are considerably different - in terms of job loss, income loss, impact on jobs quality and unpaid work - because...

Current levels of youth unemployment need to be understood in the context of increased labour market flexibility, an expansion of higher education, youth migration and family legacies of long-term unemployment. Compared with previous recessions, European-wide policies and investments have significantly increased with attempts to support national po...

“Contextualizing women’s academic careers: Comparative perspective on gender, care and employment regimes in seven European countries. Italy”. In N. Le Feuvre (ed.) Contextualizing women’s academic careers: Comparative perspective on gender, care and employment regimes in seven European countries, Garcia Working Papers, n. 1, pp. 3-60.

The Great Recession furnishes a significant field of research for the analysis of trends in employment and national policies from a gender perspective. We argue that it is necessary to take a holistic view of the consequences of the recession both on the labour market and on labour market policies. In the context of widespread rises in female emplo...

The Italian model does not fit well with the existing classifications of production and welfare regimes. According to the varieties of capitalism approach, Italy is a ‘deviant case, characterized by’ a mix of logics, a high degree of institutional incoherence and an apparent absence of complementarities’ (Molina and Rhodes, 2007, p. 223). A predomi...

Concern over the need to provide long-term care for an ageing population has stimulated a search for new solutions able to ensure financial viability and a better balance between demand and supply of care. There is at present a great variety of care regimes across industrial countries, with Mediterranean countries forming a distinctive cluster wher...

In Italy, women's advancement in economics has been curtailed by the structure of editorial boards of Italian economics journals. In this paper, we examine the presence of men and women economists on the editorial boards of thirty-six Italian economics journals published since 1970 and analyze the gender distribution across different kinds of board...

Italian women are doing progressively better than men in terms of educational attainment. While, however, this has not fully materialized as overall employment gains for women, it is contributing to the enhancement of differences among them. Female participation is low mainly because poorly educated women are disproportionately excluded from the (o...

After two decades of theoretical discussion and application of labour policies aimed at flexibility, ever-spreading unemployment in Europe has compelled some official institutions to admit that the 'rigidity' of the labour market does not suffice to account for the different trends in employment displayed by Europe and the United States. In this pa...

In this paper the authors address two related questions: first, why does the inverse relationship between female participation and fertility appear to have broken down on a cross-country basis in the Western industrialized nations and, second, why has Mediterranean Europe contributed to this breakdown with its combination of record low fertility an...

Comparative studies of Women’s labour market position usually focus on patterns of gender segregation, considered to be the foundation of gender discrimination. Few studies trace the link between gender segregation and gender pay differences in a comparative context, and even fewer seek to identify links between payment structures and practices and...

An analysis of recent Italian industrial relations must begin with the events of 1968–1969. This period was of special importance in the history of all Western countries as well as of the Eastern bloc, but perhaps nowhere was its impact as widely and lastingly felt as in Italy. The industrial relations system, the relations between unions and polit...

Changes in social patterns and in social policies have profoundly transformed the Italian family and society. New technological and economic conditions have challenged the old pattern of production, employment and labour standards. Italy’s response has been a “limping reformismâ€: the various components of the Italian social model have develope...

Arguments on the reduction of hours worked to promote employment have been put forward. This journal adds its contribution, showing figures for hours worked under normal conditions in the Italian textile and other industries. The schemes put forward by various syndicates for mandatory lowering of hours worked are discussed. An analysis is made show...