Abstract

Active labour market policies constitute, by now, an established approach in Europe to tackle issues such as unemployment or inactivity. In Italy, historically, this was not the norm. This article analyses the different waves of labour laws that have introduced, promoted, or discouraged the use of active measures from the 1970s to today after institutions learned, adapted, and evolved for the benefit of society. For each legal text promulgated, concepts typical of active labour market policies are illustrated, including training, flexibility, conditionality, and inter-administrative subsidiarity. The challenging circumstances of a globalised and flexible labour market encouraged a progressive transformation of the law from an initial institutional inertia to one more inclusive of the interests of subjects.