Italy’s future: multi-ethnic integration, women, youth

This seminar focused on the fact that Italy has three important and strategic crisis areas to deal with simultaneously, namely, immigrants, women and youth. Indeed, it has failed to find the best ways of putting these three significant pools of talent to good use. It was noted that women, for instance, achieve the best results throughout schooling, yet once they enter the workplace they experience various drawbacks such as lower salaries, higher unemployment, less career advancement and a very low level of representation in senior positions. This situation is the product of flawed welfare policy, which has relied on inadequate incentives and has not favored families or work done by women. Nor have any strong measures been taken in recent years to break down certain stereotypes that are still firmly ingrained. Finally, although quotas are a mechanism that, by its very nature, is inimical to strictly meritocratic recruitment methods, the failure to implement them even as a temporary solution has stopped Italy from moving forward as has, in contrast, occurred elsewhere in Europe.Immigration policies have, till now, been geared to managing the phenomenon of migration ex post, when, instead, the ability to plan ahead is essential. It is a question of understanding whether it is worthwhile developing a two-fold approach to manage the immigration flows the country is experiencing and to determine what kind of immigration the country wants. Public authorities play a leading role in this process and they must be in a position to deal with changes in the volume of flows. The key problem is undoubtedly one of costs. While the reduction of public expenditure is, generally speaking, a goal that should be pursued, in this field an increase in available resources is unavoidable. The welfare system, particularly the rules for accessing services, and investment in training are also of great importance.There is also a crisis with respect to youth. Italy has the negative distinction of having the widest salary margin between younger and older generations, a very small difference in the salaries of those with a high-school diploma and university graduates, and a lack of meritocracy and social mobility. Two trends exacerbate this already difficult situation. On the one hand, many people are willing simply to hang on to their jobs (especially those with children for example) rather than risk changing a salary system that rewards seniority rather than merit. On the other hand, the willingness to take risks and to make sacrifices are not foremost in the value system of a generation which prefers to follow rather than dare and compete to lead. Reactivating the social elevator, starting from the school system, and finding arenas and opportunities for intergenerational exchange, are the first steps needed to overcome this and the other crisis situations.