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ARTICLES by Giovanna Fullin

European Journal of Industrial Relations, 2018

We investigate trade union strategies in fashion retail, a sector with endemic low-wages, precari... more We investigate trade union strategies in fashion retail, a sector with endemic low-wages, precarity and a representation gap. Unions in Milan organized ‘zero-hours contract’ workers, while their counterparts in New York established an alternative channel of representation, the Retail Action Project. We argue, first, that the dynamics of both cases are counter-intuitive, displaying institution-building in the USA and grass-roots mobilization in Italy; second, union identity stands out as a key revitalizing factor, since only those unions with a broad working class orientation could provide an effective representation for fashion retail workers.

Work and Occupations, 2018

Despite the growing number of union initiatives to foster a new generation of activists through t... more Despite the growing number of union initiatives to foster a new generation of activists through the development of youth networks, issues of control and autonomy still remain. This article explores these tensions by drawing on case studies of labor organizations in France, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The findings suggest that union support for young worker initiatives is crucial for resources and networks, particularly when these groups are newly formed and in need of mentoring and material assistance. Significant local autonomy, however, is also critical to sustain the interest and creative energy of young worker groups.

Stato e Mercato, 2018

This article investigates how employment change has been intersecting and intertwining with the g... more This article investigates how employment change has been intersecting
and intertwining with the growth of immigrants among the labour forces in Italy under the hypothesis that migration inflows not only depend on but also affect thelabour demand and employment changes in the receiving countries while also changing the composition of the labour supply. Employment changes and labour migrations are very often separately considered. The results from both of these broad literature
streams provide several pieces of evidence to highlight how employment structures and migration flows influence each other, mediated by the institutional context. Indeed, employment structures and employment changes are affected by the characteristics of the economic fabric, labour market regulation and the welfare system, which also influence natives’ and immigrants’ opportunities and choices.
This article adopts a macro-structural approach and focuses on the Italian case in comparison with seven European countries representing the European institutional variety: Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Spain. The aim is to show how in Italy, the downgrading pattern builds both on the stagnation of skilled job creation by the productive fabric and the enormous demand for care services from families, intertwined with immigrant labour. The analyses
build on European Labour Force Survey microdata that have provided information about respondents’ country of birth since 2005, thus allowing for immigrants to be distinguished from natives.

JEL CLassification: J21 - Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure; J61 - Immigrant Workers; J82 - Labor Force Composition; J42 - Segmented Labor Markets

Founded by a union in 2005, the Retail Action Project (RAP) has led multiple campaigns for worker... more Founded by a union in 2005, the Retail Action Project
(RAP) has led multiple campaigns for workers’ rights, back wages and unionization in the heart of Manhattan’s retail district. It has also undertaken worker training and hiring efforts while cultivating a community of creative workermembers.
This combination of organizing, community
building and attempted re-skilling, along with its industrial rather than ethnic focus and operation within a leading center of postindustrial capitalism, make RAP unique among U.S. worker centers and potentially prefigurative of revitalized unionism. Our study examines the organization’s 12-year history and draws out lessons for organizing young workers in an increasingly precarious economy. Although RAP has tried to both materially empower and socialize young workers to the labor movement, we find it has been more successful at the latter than the former and that its lessons may find application in other retail-dense urban centers within and outside the United States.

Wotk, Employment and Society, May 2015

In the late 1980s and early 1990s Southern European countries rapidly became magnets for a growi... more In the late 1980s and early 1990s Southern European countries rapidly became magnets for
a growing number of migrants from dozens of developing and East European countries. The
performance of immigrants in the host labour markets strongly differ by country of origin in
terms of unemployment risk and access to highly qualified jobs. This article focuses on these
differences and highlights whether and to what extent they are linked to diversities in country of
origin religion and race. The analysis concerns Italy, a country where the population was highly
homogeneous in terms of religion and ‘racial’ characteristics until 25 years ago. The estimates
show that religion plays a role in explaining differences in terms of unemployment rate only for
women, while the white/non-white divide matters for both sexes. Neither race nor religion have
a significant impact in terms of occupational attainment of migrants in the Italian labour market

Over the past two decades, all European societies have experienced continued and increasing migra... more Over the past two decades, all European societies have experienced continued and increasing migrations, albeit with very different intensities and characteristics. Our focus is on new immigrants -- those who have come from abroad in the past 15 years -- in both old and new receiving West European countries. Comparative analyses on this issue are rather weak as the literature on immigrant integration in the labour market is well-established in the old receiving countries, but is just beginning to be developed in the newer receiving ones. The article aims at introducing the articles collected in this special issue, which present the results of a research project that concerns six European countries -- Italy, Spain, United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Germany, and Denmark. Our focus is on inequalities between immigrants and natives with respect to the risk of unemployment and to the access to highly qualified occupations. After having highlighted similarities and differences across those countries, we tried to draw some general conclusions concerning the main factors that may have shaped new immigrants’ incorporation into West European labour markets. In particular, the role played by the nature of immigration and by the labour demand seems to be crucial.

International Migration, 2011

The article analyses the incorporation of immigrants into the Italian labour market and the difﬁc... more The article analyses the incorporation of immigrants into the Italian labour market and the difﬁculties they encounter in accessing both employment and qualiﬁed occupations. The analysis is based on the Italian Labour Force Survey and highlights the fact that the great majority of immigrants entering Italy are hardly disadvantaged in comparison to Italians as regards the risk of unemployment, but, in contrast, they are highly disfavoured as regards the socio-professional status of their jobs. Unlike what
would happen with the old European immigration, nowadays the segregation of immigrant workers in the lowest ranks of the occupational ladder is not due to their poor education. On the contrary, their disadvantage increases if educational attainment is taken into account. The leading role of low-skilled labour demand and underground economy in shaping immigrants’ integration in the Italian labour market is conﬁrmed by the fact that they have fairly easy access to unskilled and semi-skilled manual jobs, whereas they experience serious difﬁculties in entering self-employment and in obtaining non-manual jobs.

International Journal of Comparative Sociology, 2011

The gap between unemployment rate of immigrants and that of natives varies across West European ... more The gap between unemployment rate of immigrants and that of natives varies across West European
countries. This article aims at explaining these differences by taking into account economic and institutional
characteristics of labour markets and by adopting a dynamic perspective, that is, disentangling the risk
of being unemployed into two different risks: that of entering unemployment and that of remaining in
long-term unemployment. From the analyses of yearly transitions to/from unemployment, less immigrant
penalization results in those countries where the employment protection legislation is stricter, the labour
demand is more biased towards low skilled jobs and the welfare state is less generous for the unemployed.
Furthermore, the article summarizes the main results of five country studies also focused on labour market
transitions of immigrants and natives.

International Journal of Comparative Sociology, 2011

ABSTRACT This article aims at analysing the trajectories of immigrants in the Italian labour mark... more ABSTRACT This article aims at analysing the trajectories of immigrants in the Italian labour market, focusing on yearly transitions from unemployment to employment and vice versa. Regression models show that, controlling for age, educational attainment and region, immigrant workers lose their jobs more often than natives but, once being unemployed they have more probabilities of finding a job than natives. As the probabilities of both transitions can be affected by characteristics of the initial status as well, the two transitions have been analysed separately. For the risk of losing a job, the segregation of immigrants in the secondary labour market seems to be the main reason of their penalization, but also the main reason of their advantage in job seeking, since their unemployment spells are shorter than those of natives, although at the cost of accepting worse working conditions. Analyses are based on the yearly transition matrices of Italian Labour Force Surveys, from 2005 to 2008.

ABSTRACT The article aims at analysing the employment pathways of migrant women in housekeeping a... more ABSTRACT The article aims at analysing the employment pathways of migrant women in housekeeping and care-giving activities in the Italian labour market. A dataset of 597 in depth interviews has been exploited in order to highlight a) the characteristics of labour contracts, b) the processes that lead to segregation and entrapment in housekeeping and care-giving activities and c) the subjective aspects concerning how women consider domestic/care work, what expectations they had before leaving their home country, and what opportunities they think they have in the Italian labour market. A special focus on work histories of women coming from Philippines, Ecuador, Peru, Romania, Ucraina and Morocco has been developed in order to analyse more deeply expectations and aspirations of interviewed people.

Work Employment and Society, 2007

... market) as a foreign-born workforce fills the gaps for low-skilled labour that native ... wor... more ... market) as a foreign-born workforce fills the gaps for low-skilled labour that native ... workers posted abroad); internal labour market (policies on recruitment and training, internal vacancy ... and subcontracting choices; process of recruitment from national/local labour market; process ...

SPECIAL ISSUES by Giovanna Fullin

BOOKS by Giovanna Fullin

Viste in un’ottica comparata internazionale, le criticità del mercato del lavoro italiano stanno ... more Viste in un’ottica comparata internazionale, le criticità del mercato del lavoro italiano stanno nelle difficoltà di inserimento occupazionale dei giovani, nella trappola dei lavori instabili, in una classe operaia costituita in misura crescente da immigrati quasi sempre segregati in occupazioni a bassa qualifica, nella mancanza di opportunità di lavoro qualificato anche per chi ha un buon livello di istruzione, nell’assenza di una valutazione rigorosa delle politiche del lavoro. Come emerge dalla accurata disamina svolta nel libro, molti di questi fenomeni non sono l’esito inevitabile di tendenze generali dei mercati, ma dipendono dai sistemi istituzionali e di regolazione che caratterizzano i contesti nazionali. Questi influiscono in modo determinante sulla struttura occupazionale, sulla persistenza e l’ampliamento delle diseguaglianze e sui percorsi di sviluppo che i singoli paesi hanno imboccato, oltre che sulle vie di uscita dall’attuale crisi economica. L’Italia, in questo senso, è in una situazione particolarmente preoccupante.

Sulla diffusione delle occupazioni atipiche si è molto dibattuto in Italia negli ultimi anni. Il ... more Sulla diffusione delle occupazioni atipiche si è molto dibattuto in Italia negli ultimi anni. Il processo di riforma del sistema di regolazione del mercato del lavoro, recentemente avviato, mira ad ampliare i margini di flessibilità nella gestione della forza lavoro da parte delle imprese, introducendo nuove forme contrattuali e sostituendone altre. Ma che ricadute hanno tali trasformazioni per gli individui? Quali sono le conseguenze dell'instabilità del lavoro e del reddito sulla vita delle persone? Questo studio, basato su interviste a collaboratori e lavoratori interinali, mostra i modi in cui essi affrontano i rischi derivanti dall'avere un impiego senza garanzie di stabilità nel tempo, come riescono a proteggersi dall'"esposizione al mercato", come vivono la propria situazione di occupati "a scadenza", come tentano di costruirsi un'identità professionale e sociale, adattandosi alle condizioni dettate dal mercato e nello stesso tempo contribuendo a determinarle. Diversamente da altri contributi pubblicati sul tema, il libro non intende offrire una valutazione univoca delle politiche di "flessibilizzazione", ma vuole mettere in luce l'ambivalenza e la complessità dei fenomeni oggi in atto nel mercato del lavoro.

Indice: Introduzione. - I. Lavoratori con occupazioni instabili. - II. Le tutele collettive contro i rischi dell'instabilità. - III. La famiglia come protezione contro il rischio. - IV. La costruzione della continuità. - V. Scarsa visibilità dei rischi e potenzialità del processo di individualizzazione. - VI. Lavoro instabile e identità. - VII. Equilibri. - Appendice. - Riferimenti bibliografici.

CHAPTERS IN EDITED BOOKS by Giovanna Fullin

Conference Presentations by Giovanna Fullin

European Journal of Industrial Relations, 2018

Work and Occupations, 2018

Stato e Mercato, 2018

JEL CLassification: J21 - Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure; J61 - Immigrant Workers; J82 - Labor Force Composition; J42 - Segmented Labor Markets

Wotk, Employment and Society, May 2015

International Migration, 2011

International Journal of Comparative Sociology, 2011

Work Employment and Society, 2007

This paper investigates union revitalization strategies in fashion' retail, a sector with endemic... more This paper investigates union revitalization strategies in fashion' retail, a sector with endemic low-wages and high precarity (Grugulis and Bozkurt 2011), by examining the initiatives targeting the same multinational companies (Abercrombie & Fitch) in two large cities, Milan and New York. On the basis of interviews with union activists and retail workers, our results report unions in Italy able to organize 'zero-hour contract' workers and unions in the US able to create an innovative channel of representation through a new 'institutional actor' (the Retail Action Project, a workers’ center supported by the union). In both cases, our analysis demonstrates that what moved unions there were not just available institutional opportunities (Turner 2009), but especially a broader working class orientation (Hyman 2001). The contribution to the revitalization literature is twofold: first, it reports quite original country dynamics (Frege and Kelly 2004), expressing a move towards institution-building for the social movement unionism recently emerged in the US, and towards grass-roots mobilization for social partnership unionism long present in Italy (Heery 2001); second, it appreciates the role of identity in union strategies, exploring a rather under-researched topic in ER through a ‘constructivist institutionalism’ approach (Morgan and Hauptmeier 2014).

Cosenza, 27-28 settembre 2012 1. Introduzione: tre dimensioni di analisi poco esplorate La letter... more Cosenza, 27-28 settembre 2012 1. Introduzione: tre dimensioni di analisi poco esplorate La letteratura internazionale sulla diffusione del lavoro autonomo tra gli immigrati è vastissima e il tema è stato oggetto di studio anche in Italia, dove negli ultimi anni si è verificato un aumento molto rapido del numero di titolari d'impresa nati all'estero. Tuttavia, come mettono in luce alcuni autori (Rath e Kloosterman 2000; Codagnone 2003; Jones e Ram 2007), raramente le analisi sul lavoro autonomo degli immigrati mettono a confronto le loro caratteristiche con quelle dei lavoratori autonomi autoctoni, in alcuni casi rifacendosi in modo a-problematico a supposti caratteri "etnici" delle attività dei primi (Zanfrini 2008). D'altra parte gli studi sul lavoro autonomo spesso tendono a trascurare del tutto o considerare solo marginalmente le differenze esistenti tra autoctoni e immigrati, sebbene in molti paesi questi ultimi rappresentino una quota consistente dei lavoratori indipendenti. Questo paper si propone di cominciare a colmare questo vuoto, muovendosi tra due filoni di letteratura molto ampi e con pochissimi punti di contatto e utilizzando i dati Eurostat per mettere a confronto le caratteristiche dei lavoratori autonomi immigrati e autoctoni in cinque paesi europei. Accanto al confronto tra stranieri e nativi, le differenze tra contesti nazionali, pertanto, rappresenteranno la seconda dimensione comparativa di analisi. Anche questa risulta ad oggi poco esplorata. Come è noto, l'incidenza del lavoro indipendente sul totale dell'occupazione non è eguale in tutti i paesi dell'Europa a 15 ma è particolarmente elevata in Italia, dove nel 2008 poco meno di un quarto dell'occupazione extra-agricola si concentrava nel lavoro indipendente, e registra valori sopra la media OECD (14%) anche in Grecia, Spagna e Portogallo, mentre in Francia e Danimarca è sotto il 10% (Pedersini e Coletto, 2010). Si tratta di differenze ampie che tuttavia non vengono praticamente mai prese in considerazione dagli studi sull'ethnic business, i quali si concentrano

The paper is based on semi-structured interviews with salespersons. The field has been carried out in Italy, involving subjects working for medium/large size stores in different sectors (garments, electronic, supermarkets). We developed an exploratory analysis of the representations that salespersons give of their job by taking into consideration different sectors, working roles (cashiers, generic and specialized sale-assistants) and organizational contexts. The findings allowed us to outline some analytical dimensions that need to be taken into account in order to understand salespersons’ representations of work:
i) the specific object being sold and the consequent relation with customers (exchange of more or less complex information; subjective advices, even regarding intimacy, for salespersons in the garment sector; sales incentives);
ii) the length of the interaction with customers (just few minutes for cashiers, longer in the changing rooms of a clothing store or in an electronic assistance point);
iii) the mix of front-desk and back-office activities.
Paper presented at the International Labour Process Conference (ILPC), London, 7-9 April 2014

The literature on Front Line Service Workers (FLSW) has shown the existence of deep contradiction... more The literature on Front Line Service Workers (FLSW) has shown the existence of deep contradictions within their lived experience of interactions with customers. On one side, as stressed by Hochschild (1983), the transmutation of private feelings required by the emotional labor is a source of alienation. On the other side, a body of research showed that interactions with customers are pointed out by service workers as one of the main positive aspects of their job, reducing monotony and providing unmanaged spaces where the discretionary of workers could reach medium-high levels (Bolton and Houlihan 2005). Moreover, the relationship with customers can be gratifying for FLSW who feel themselves useful. The crucial point is that FLSW are able to perceive the satisfaction of customers because, in many cases, they themselves are customers, sometimes in the same store they are working for.
The paper focuses on the identification of FLSW with customers, which plays a central role in their lived working experience and that makes FLSW strongly different from workers employed in manufacturing sectors. Our aim is twofold:
1. On one hand, we will analyze how the identification process can be functionally promoted and used by the managers, as part of the empirical research (specifically direct observation of training classes) highlighted. In particular we will highlight if there are some manifest or espoused values of a specific organizational culture that are diffused by the managers with the aim of guiding the customer-worker relation. Moreover, also the recruitment and selection of FLSW has to be taken into account. In fact, FLSW are often selected among (potential) customers as they know the products, they like the brand, they are similar to customers they will encounter and therefore the relations with them is easier. In some cases - for instance in clothing stores (young fashion, sportswear) - they hand the corporate image on. Our attention will focus on specific workplaces, such as fast-food restaurants and fashion retail outlets, that are characterized by a supremacy of customers in the power relation customer-worker, and by a prevalence of in one-off encounters between customers and FLSW.
2. On the other hand, we will examine the potential trade-off between the attempts done by the managers to regulate the so-called “unmanaged spaces” that characterize the customer-worker relation and the instinctiveness that seems to prevail when the process of identification push FLSW to step into “the customer shoes”.
The research is based on semi-structured interviews with more than 50 FLSW with different roles (sales assistants, with and without specific skills, store managers, cashiers) and with some training supervisors. Ethnographic observations have been carried out in training classes (for fast-food workers and fashion sales assistants). The field has been accomplished in Italy, involving subjects working for medium/large size stores in different sectors (electronic, fast-foods, garments, supermarkets) and sale assistants working for high fashion retail shops located in outlets in the Northern regions of Italy.

Work and Occupations, 2018

European Journal of Industrial Relations, 2018

We investigate trade union strategies in fashion retail, a sector with endemic low wages, precari... more We investigate trade union strategies in fashion retail, a sector with endemic low wages, precarity and a representation gap. Unions in Milan organized ‘zero-hours contract’ workers, while their counterparts in New York established an alternative channel of representation, the Retail Action Project. We argue, first, that the dynamics of both cases are counterintuitive, displaying institution-building in the USA and grassroots mobilization in Italy; second, union identity stands out as a key revitalizing factor, since only those unions with a broad working-class orientation could provide an effective representation for fashion retail workers.

Journal of Labor and Society, 2018

Founded by a union in 2005, the Retail Action Project (RAP) has led multiple campaigns for worker... more Founded by a union in 2005, the Retail Action Project (RAP) has led multiple campaigns for workers’ rights, back wages and unionization in the heart of Manhattan’s retail district. It has also undertaken worker training and hiring efforts while cultivating a community of creative workermembers. This combination of organizing, community building and attempted re-skilling, along with its industrial rather than ethnic focus and operation within a leading center of postindustrial capitalism, make RAP unique among U.S. worker centers and potentially prefigurative of revitalized unionism. Our study examines the organization’s 12-year history and draws out lessons for organizing young workers in an increasingly precarious economy. Although RAP has tried to both materially empower and socialize young workers to the labor movement, we find it has been more successful at the latter than the former and that its lessons may find application in other retail-dense urban centers within and outside the United States.

Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, 2008

ABSTRACT New immigrants have been integrated into the labour markets of receiving countries in ve... more ABSTRACT New immigrants have been integrated into the labour markets of receiving countries in very different ways. In the ‘old’ receiving countries of central and northern Europe their unemployment rate has proved much higher than that of natives, while those in jobs have found reasonably skilled work in line with their educational credentials. In the ‘new’ receiving countries of southern Europe, by contrast, the unemployment rate of immigrants is only slightly higher than that of natives, but even the best-educated among them occupy very poor-quality jobs. This article sets out to explain the reasons for this discrepancy, which lie not only in the different methods of entry and variations in welfare state generosity, but also in the diverse composition of the demand for labour. We conclude by highlighting some short- and medium-term problems posed by this state of affairs.

International Migration, 2010

Over the past two decades, all European societies have experienced continued and increasing migra... more Over the past two decades, all European societies have experienced continued and increasing migrations, albeit with very different intensities and characteristics. Our focus is on new immigrants-those who have come from abroad in the past 15 years-in both old and new receiving West European countries. Comparative analyses on this issue are rather weak as the literature on immigrant integration in the labour market is well-established in the old receiving countries, but is just beginning to be developed in the newer receiving ones. The article aims at introducing the articles collected in this special issue, which present the results of a research project that concerns six European countries-Italy, Spain, United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Germany, and Denmark. Our focus is on inequalities between immigrants and natives with respect to the risk of unemployment and to the access to highly qualified occupations. After having highlighted similarities and differences across those countries, we tried to draw some general conclusions concerning the main factors that may have shaped new immigrants' incorporation into West European labour markets. In particular, the role played by the nature of immigration and by the labour demand seems to be crucial.

Recent studies have pointed out that, both in the developed and emerging economies, an increasing... more Recent studies have pointed out that, both in the developed and emerging economies, an increasing part of the labour force is employed in jobs in which central tasks provide regular interactions with a customer. Consequently the customer plays a key role in defining the working experience of a relevant proportion of the working class in the contemporary economy. The paper focuses on the social representation of the worker-customer relation, by analyzing how salespersons perceive the interactions with customers. The questions that guided the research are the following: a) Is the relation with customers a source of stress for workers (the “dark side” of the worker-customer interaction)? Or is it a factor that affects the whole organization of work, giving additional meanings to the job performed by the salespersons and higher levels of autonomy to them? b) To what extent the rhetoric concerning the customer orientation, used by management, is interiorised by workers and leads them to accept uncomfortable working conditions (in terms of working time, salary, pace of work, stress at work)? In particular, do salespersons ascribe, in some ways, situations of stress brought on by the customers flow to the “market” rather than to the corporate strategies? c) Differently from blue-collar workers on the assembly line, salespersons in retail sector perform standardised and repetitive jobs whose purpose – the satisfaction of customer needs - is clearly evident. Indeed can the relation worker-customer reduce the process of alienation, becoming a source of satisfaction for workers? The paper is based on semi-structured interviews with salespersons. The field has been carried out in Italy, involving subjects working for medium/large size stores in different sectors (garments, electronic, supermarkets). We developed an exploratory analysis of the representations that salespersons give of their job by taking into consideration different sectors, working roles (cashiers, generic and specialized sale-assistants) and organizational contexts. The findings allowed us to outline some analytical dimensions that need to be taken into account in order to understand salespersons’ representations of work: i) the specific object being sold and the consequent relation with customers (exchange of more or less complex information; subjective advices, even regarding intimacy, for salespersons in the garment sector; sales incentives); ii) the length of the interaction with customers (just few minutes for cashiers, longer in the changing rooms of a clothing store or in an electronic assistance point); iii) the mix of front-desk and back-office activities. Paper presented at the International Labour Process Conference (ILPC), London, 7-9 April 2014

International Migration, 2011

Over the past two decades, all European societies have experienced continued and increasing migra... more Over the past two decades, all European societies have experienced continued and increasing migrations, albeit with very different intensities and characteristics. Our focus is on new immigrants -those who have come from abroad in the past 15 years -in both old and new receiving West European countries. Comparative analyses on this issue are rather weak as the literature on immigrant integration in the labour market is well-established in the old receiving countries, but is just beginning to be developed in the newer receiving ones. The article aims at introducing the articles collected in this special issue, which present the results of a research project that concerns six European countries -Italy, Spain, United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Germany, and Denmark. Our focus is on inequalities between immigrants and natives with respect to the risk of unemployment and to the access to highly qualified occupations. After having highlighted similarities and differences across those countries, we tried to draw some general conclusions concerning the main factors that may have shaped new immigrants' incorporation into West European labour markets. In particular, the role played by the nature of immigration and by the labour demand seems to be crucial.

Front-Line Workers in the Global Service Economy

... opportunità occupazio-nali che sono socialmente considerate adatte per loro (Ambrosini 2003; ... more ... opportunità occupazio-nali che sono socialmente considerate adatte per loro (Ambrosini 2003; Andall ... diverse esperienze iniziali pos-sono essere ricondotte alla struttura stessa delle reti in cui ... Da Romania e Marocco – diversamente da quanto accade per Ecuador e Filippine ...

Ai & Society, 2015

L’articolo analizza i laureati triennali in Sociologia negli anni a cavallo della crisi economica... more L’articolo analizza i laureati triennali in Sociologia negli anni a cavallo della crisi economica. Si mostrano le difficoltà nel trovare un impiego e il peggioramento per le ultime coorti. Si osserva la diffusione massiccia di posizioni contrattuali instabili e si mostra inoltre che spesso, anche in presenza di un impiego, i laureati continuano a cercare un nuovo lavoro. Trova conferma l’usuale maggior difficoltà del Mezzogiorno, mentre laureate e laureati mostrano performance occupazionali molto simili.

This working paper explores new Italian migrants' arrival and settlement in the UK and Ge... more This working paper explores new Italian migrants' arrival and settlement in the UK and Germany; work experiences; and, issues of identity and citizenship. It draws on 41 in-depth interviews with migrants in London and Berlin; 10 'prospective' migrants; and, 10 labour agency experts. www.gemm.eu

Comparative Report: Individual factors for migration and migration channels A major ingredient of... more Comparative Report: Individual factors for migration and migration channels A major ingredient of the transformative processes in present-day Europe is the mobility of human capital. One of the major challenges continuously facing the EU is how best to manage labour migration in the context of population ageing and global competition for skills (OECD/EU, 2016). In order for the process to serve as an invigorating factor both for the economies in the region and for the quality of work and life of European citizens and residents we need to have the evidence of migrants’ expectations, experiences and aspirations for the future. In this report we present results from the comparative analysis conducted within the framework of WP4 ‘The lived experiences of migration’ of the GEMM Project (D4.3).

The Department of Sociology and Social Research will host the first PAMIMEX international worksho... more The Department of Sociology and Social Research will host the first PAMIMEX international workshop on 5 and 6 December 2019. PAMIMEX is a new international research network that brings together scholars and young researchers from different disciplines (sociology, geography, anthropology, urban sociology, demography) and from different countries (Canada, France, Italy, Mexico, Turkey). The goal of the network is to develop research projects that investigate the transformations of urban spaces linked to both migration processes and the development of new and old informal economic activities in different urban contexts. In particular, the network will develop comparative projects among Milan, Paris and Mexico City.

The Milan workshop envisages some research meetings and the public international seminar Migrations, the informal economy and the transformation of daily uses and meanings of urban spaces, which will be held on Thursday 5 December 2019, from 10am to 1pm (De Lillo room, second floor, U7, Università di Milano-Bicocca).

The retail sector is one of the largest low-wage industries, both in the US and Europe, involving... more The retail sector is one of the largest low-wage industries, both in the US and Europe, involving the weakest components of the labor force - women, young people, immigrants and low educated people - and providing jobs that are often very precarious. Working conditions, level of precariousness and the dimensions of it (in terms of number of working hours, unpredictability of working schedules and risk of losing the job) do vary by country in a significant way. The research aims at comparing the job quality in the retail trade in the US and in Italy, by taking into consideration both objective dimensions of that quality, namely the employment conditions and the characteristics of the job contents, and its subjective dimensions, i.e. reasons of satisfaction/dissatisfaction with the job.
About 100 semi-structured interviews with front-line service workers and union representatives were collected in chain clothing stores of medium/low price level in two large cities: Milan and New York. To improve the comparison some stores belonging to multinational chains present in both Milan and NY were selected.
The Italy/US comparison is very useful to highlight how the different institutional contexts (labor legislation, unionization) do have an impact on the objective dimensions of job quality, while the subjective dimensions might be affected by the different expectations that workers have about their job in the retail sector and by managers’ attitudes. Moreover, local labor market conditions and characteristics of the labor force employed in the sector are likely to influence the workers’ and managers’ expectations. Interactions with customers are also an important source of satisfaction/dissatisfaction that seems less affected by the specificities of the national context.

Martedì 21 novembre, alle 9.30, presso la sede centrale della Camera del Lavoro di Milano (corso ... more Martedì 21 novembre, alle 9.30, presso la sede centrale della Camera del Lavoro di Milano (corso di Porta Vittoria, 43) si terrà un incontro pubblico in cui saranno presentati i risultati dell’attività di stage-ricerca svolta negli ultimi tre anni dagli studenti di vari Corsi di Laurea afferenti al Dipartimento di Sociologia e Ricerca Sociale dell’Università di Milano-Bicocca. Tale sperimentazione è stata sviluppata con l’obiettivo di conciliare l’attività tradizionale di stage con l’attività di ricerca sociologica, finalizzata ad indagare i bisogni sociali delle persone che si recano nelle varie sedi della Camera del Lavoro di Milano. Si tratta di un’iniziativa sviluppata attraverso una convezione fra Camera del Lavoro di Milano e Università di Milano-Bicocca e rientra fra le attività della terza missione dell’università.