Employment and labor policies. The case of Italy

This study analyses the impact of labor policies introduced in the last twenty years in Italy focusing on the direct influence on employment. Using different socio-economic variables and through the use of Principal Component Analysis and a generalized linear model (GLM), the analysis: i) highlights there is no empirical evidence to support that the Monti-Fornero and Jobs Act reforms have a statistically significant impact on the determination of employment levels in recent years.; ii) identifies the main variables that have a significant impact on the determination of employment in Italy. These findings confirm that the current situation is far from being considered desirable, not only for the reduction of workers' rights, but above all because this downsizing has not led to any substantial economic growth and hasn’t helped to improve the structural conditions of the labor market. It would be desirable to understand what are the real determinants of sustainable economic growth, which are not to be found in the management of labor costs (especially in large companies), but instead lie in the dimensions of innovation, technological integration, the capacity of organizations companies to retain talent, human capital and skilled labor and to encourage work productivity through the flexibility of working conditions and the quality of life of employees.