Corsi di Studio del Dipartimento di Culture, Politica e Società

The pursuit of full and productive employment remains one of the highest and most challenging items on the national and international policy agendas. While the world economy is recovering from the shock of the 2008-2009 financial crisis, labour markets are slow in following through. The issue is equally relevant to industrialized and developing countries, though the symptoms may be different in higher-income economies (high rate of unemployment and especially youth unemployment, low rates of activity, particularly for women, increasing precariousness of employment contracts) than in lower-income economies (large share of informal employment, large numbers of working poor, large flows of migration).

As a result, “sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all” has become an explicit priority of the new international Sustainable Development Goal Agenda (SDG no. 8). According to the estimates of the International Labour Organization (ILO), over 600 million new jobs need to be created by 2030 just to keep pace with the growth of the global working age population. Also, 300 million women and men are working but not earning enough to lift themselves and their families above USD 1.90-a-day poverty line. In the context of the global economy, challenges such as jobless growth, technological innovation, demographic growth and migration flows may require effective and coordinated policy responses.

Against this background, national policy measures have by and large failed so far to provide effective solutions, mainly due to a number of factors, such as restrictive economic and fiscal scenarios, but also poor coordination among economic, industrial, labour market and educational policies. The notion that job creation is essentially a spillover of economic growth is still prevailingand policies mostly focus on the labour supply side. Also, poor economic policy coordination represents a constraint in the performance of the global labour market. Finally, barriers to social inclusion continue to represent a significant obstacle to the attainment of full and decent employment.

The Lab is run in cooperation with ASVIS - Alleanza italiana per lo sviluppo sostenibile. The instructor is Antonio Graziosi, former Senior official - ILO, International Labour Organization

At the end of the laboratory, students will have obtained a better understanding and awareness of global employment trends, on the interface between economic, social and labour market policies, and on possible options to promote the creation of more and better jobs on a national and global scale. They will also have acquired some concept and tools to better understand and analyze the labour market impact of politically controversial issues such as labour rights, the nature of employment relationship, flexicurity and immigration.

The laboratory will be delivered through six 3-hour sessions combining lectures with inter-active processes, including group work, brainstorming and roleplays. The workshop’s language is English.

The evaluation to obtain 3 CFU is based on active participation to the workshop and on the writing of a very short essay during the Lab. One absence (3 hours) is tolerated.

Session 1 – 27/9 Decent work, development and poverty reduction
Session 2 – 4/10 Sustainable growth and employment creation in the global economy
Session 3 – 11/10 The economic impact of rights at work
Session 4 – 18/10 Labour market governance
Session 5 – 25/10 Labour market policies and reforms
Session 6 – 26/10 The future of work