Decent Work in Italy: The Basic-Relations-Fairness Proposal

Abstract

This paper is a contribution to the debate on “decent work,” developed here as an instrument for measuring human development. The concept, conceived by International Labour Organization in 1999 is interpreted here in line with Sen's capability approach. The main idea on which the proposal is based is that work “can be a liberator” [Sen, A. (1999) Development as freedom, Oxford: Oxford University Press] unless working defects prevent that. Elements identified in the basic-relations-fairness proposal are grouped into three profiles that are prioritized into two levels. Working defects are highlighted as a distance from the actual to the desired labor condition; when not possible, good qualities of labor are counted as an approach to the desired situation. The proposal is first presented theoretically, and then the case of Italy is taken as an empirical field of application, using data from different sources. The empirical evidence also portrays the conditions of macro-areas in the different dimensions of decent work. Finally, according to the Contu-De Muro 2012 methodology, a synthetic indicator of decent work dimensions is built by combining basic profile variables.

Keywords:

• decent work
• capability approach
• Italian labor market
• decent work index

JEL classifications:

• J240
• I310

Acknowledgements

This paper is an outcome of the National Research Project (PRIN) “Measuring Human Development and Capabilities in Italy: methodological and empirical issues” co-funded by the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research (MIUR). We thank all the researchers involved in the project for the debate. In particular, many thanks to Tindara Addabbo, Giulia Contu, Mario Biggeri, Francesco Burchi, Pasquale De Muro, Paolo Ramazzotti, Elena Sarti, Pasquale Tridico and two anonymous referees. The usual disclaimer applies.

Notes

^* Email: [email protected]

^{* *} Email: [email protected]

¹ ISTAT (National Institute of Statistics), INAIL (National Institute for Insurance against Accidents at Work), INPS (National Institute of Social Protection), ISFOL (Institute for the Development of Vocational Training of Workers), Isfol Plus (Participation, Labour, Unemployment, Survey) as the national survey on the labor market conducted by ISFOL (Mandrone, 2012).

² “We live in a world of unprecedented opulence (…) and yet we also live in a world with remarkable deprivation (…) individual agency is, ultimately, central to addressing these deprivations (…) we have to see individual freedom as a social commitment” (Sen, 1999, pp. xi, xii).

³ In Sen's theory, the “conversion” is the relation through which every human being can transform income into functionings, it is “neither constant nor in any sense automatic and irresistible” (Sen, 1999, p. 109), it is strongly influenced by environmental contingencies and personal conditions.

⁴ Or to reach “omnilateral development” (Marx, 1970).

⁵ “A person's capability refers to the alternative combinations of functionings that are feasible for her to achieve (…) the substantive freedom to achieve alternative functionings combinations (…) the freedom to achieve various lifestyles” (Sen, 1999, p. 75). Synthetically, a “capability set” is all the real opportunities that a person has.

⁶ One of the heaviest critiques of decent work is that it refers more to industrialized countries so that countries that are more developed in a capitalistic way may seem to have more decent work than others where people still have informal nonmarket economic relationships. These are not always characterized by awful working conditions, but they may be based on barter, gift, or other forms of reciprocity, and people in those systems do not experience the difficulties mentioned above. As an example, we can look—even in Western societies—at those experiments of “local exchange systems,” e.g., the time bank, where people produce and exchange services and goods on the basis of the time they have used to produce them, so de facto that is a productive situation that can create good conditions of “work,” which cannot be called so because its output is not included in the GDP. This kind of problem arises whenever there is a nonmarket relationship that concerns the production and exchange of services and goods. In these cases, because production is not taken into account by the capitalist way of interpreting value, in the same way, working conditions are not considered as such. For the aim of this study, this observation does not have essential quantitative relevance and we can assume that in Italy all economic relationships outside the formal economy are characterized as perpetrating indecent working conditions.

⁷ For example, the Italian Constitution, art. 36, 1st paragraph, states that “worker has the right to a remuneration proportionate to the quantity and quality of his/her work and in any case sufficient to ensure him/herself and his/her family a free and decent existence” (Camera dei Deputati, 2007).

⁸ “The instrumental relation between low income and low capacity is variable between different communities and even between different families and different individuals” (Sen, 1999, p. 88).

⁹ Italian Constitution, art. 35, 2nd paragraph: “(the State) cares about education and the professional development of workers” (Camera dei Deputati, 2007).

¹⁰ France, for example, has high coverage despite a low union density—90% in year 2000 (Source: OECD Employment Outlook), even higher than Italy (80% in 2000, same source)

¹¹ It should be noted that the survey also reports data on people working 0 h per week. This information has not been taken into account because this group includes workers enjoying some form of social security provision (such as sick pay, maternity allowance) who do not belong to the group in question, which only consists of workers in work.

¹² Survey on the cross section in 2004 became continuous.

¹³ It is important to specify that those data refer to reported accidents and disease, it is unknown how this picture would change if it were possible to take into account accidents and sicknesses that have not been reported, and, because it may refer to regular and nonregular workers, the problem is largely linked to the problem of legality of jobs.

¹⁴ L.189/2002 and L.222/2002

¹⁵ Data on sufficiency refer to (ISTAT data 2008), whereas data on effective wage refer to 2010.

¹⁶ As a matter of fact, we do not know if there is correspondence between people declaring that a certain amount of money is sufficient and people earning that amount. In any case, overlapping distributions are desirable because this would mean that, if careers and wage dynamics are effectively movable in the economy, then a worker can try to tune his/her need to the effective earning entitlement.

¹⁷ In 2011, the female activity rate is 38.5% (in the South of Italy it is 28.3%), whereas the male activity rate is 59.1% (in the South of Italy it is equal to 53.7%). Female and male employment rates are 46.5% and 67.5%, respectively (ISTAT).

¹⁸ When a big firm is suffering a crisis, it is likely that in the same area employees are too numerous and too specialized to be easily relocated.

¹⁹ Source: ISTAT.