Introduction

The papers published in this issue of the Rivista Internazionale di Scienze Sociali have been selected from those contributions presented at the workshop on ‘‘Employment opportunities and unemployment over the economic downturn’’ held on 18th May 2012 at the Universita` Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Piacenza, Italy. The papers presented in this issue analyse this topic using both macro- and micro-econometric approaches and other empirical techniques which may help suggest useful policy interventions.