The article examines the working conditions of the young in Italy from the perspective of the generational question, both specifically and in relation to wider changes in productive and social process concerning the whole world of work. It presents the results of recent research on critical elements and the main risk factors at work for the young, to understand the reasons for their physical and psychological malaise and their high rates of accidents. The fragmentation of the production chain, the centralization of decision-making powers and the personalization of risk, which characterize both national and international production systems, penalize above all the weakest, starting from the new generations who enter a world of work where rights and protection are being gradually eroded, and are constrained by unemployment and the low quality of job opportunities, while there is a reduction in the power of individual and collective negotiation. only subscribers can see the full article

There may be varying levels of seriousness in the various institutional and welfare systems, but the generational segmentation of the labour markets in Europe have not only become structural but originate in policies that are either wrong or, at least, incomplete. For reasons that have not been fully explained – but in the case of Italy may depend on the family’s role as a social shock-absorber – this inequality has not so far given rise to genuine inter-generational conflict, even though there have been signs of a possible increase in protest movements. Yet it seems unlikely that having a pension and a permanent job can be what is at stake in this conflict: in western societies, the young have developed a new work ethos and the expectations of change for Generation Y involve the whole relation between work and life and radically new ways of working.only subscribers can see the full article