Abstract

The growth of non-permanent jobs is a recent but rapidly increasing phenomenon in the Italian labour market. This essay analyses its consequences in terms of vulnerability of workers. First, the author shows that this topic has been often neglected in the Italian research literature and then she identifies the main causes of vulnerability related to job precariousness: instability of income, depression of workers capabilities, individualisation of labour relations, inadequacy of welfare regime and difficulties in social integration. Second, the author stresses the protecting role of household against the risks linked up to job instability. In particular, young people and women - representing the great majority of non-permanent workers - can often succeed in diminishing their vulnerability because they can rely on their parents or on their partners, who usually have a permanent job.