Abstract

At the onset of the Great Recession, the Italian system of social safety nets was characterised by high fragmentation and low integration between active and passive policies. The reforms implemented in 2012 and 2015 innovated the system thoroughly, with the dual goal of ensuring universal and increased protection, and of boosting active policies. While the former goal has been substantially achieved, the establishment of ANPAL represents only a first step towards the attainment of the latter goal: the number of recipients of the unemployment allowance who are not immediately available for work remains high.