In Italy, about 28% of young males starting their first job in the private sector during 1989-1993 left their jobs in the first two years; some of them experienced job to job transitions but the majority of them experienced long jobless periods. A number of empirical studies suggest that the...

This study is a preliminary exploration on the extent of labor market segmentation (LMS) in Europe and the United States, based on data of earnings mobility prepared for the OECD in the late Nineties. Assessing segmentation is important for a balanced view on the pros-and-cons of labor market...

In this paper we question the hypothesis of full rationality in the context of job changing behaviour, via simple econometric explorations on microdata drawn from WHIP (Worker Histories Italian Panel). A rational outcome of the job matching process implies a positive tradeoff between future...

In this paper I question the hypothesis of full rationality in the context of job changing behaviour, via simple econometric explorations on microdata drawn from WHIP (Worker Histories Italian Panel). Workers’ performance is compared at the end of a three-year time window that starts when...

In this paper we investigate the existence of negative jobless duration dependence and the impact of jobless spells on future wages. Our findings are relatively out of line compared to analogous explorations. We find evidence of very long unemployment duration of the young male labor force, much...

Why did employment growth - high in the last decade– take place at the expense of young workers in the countries of Central and Southern Europe ? This is the question addressed in this paper. Youth unemployment has approached or exceeded 20% despite a variety of factors, common to most EU...

This paper explores a process which I denote as “young workforce disposal” (YWD). YWD reflects the fact that many young people enter the labor market as dependent employees, at some later time they are dismissed and (presumably) move into never-ending unemployment. Long term unemployment may...