Il progetto LAW ha visto CISS impegnata per oltre quattro anni, in partnership con cinque istituti internazionali, nella analisi dei rapporti tra mercato del lavoro e istituzioni dello stato sociale sotto la pressione della globalizzazione e delle nuove tecnologie.
Di seguito i documenti conclusivi.
(1) RAPPORTO FINALE (sintetico)
This report summarises the results of the restructured Labour Market Changes and Welfare Perspectives In Europe (LAW) project, presenting the conclusions from the work carried out between its relaunch in November 2004 and the end of the project a year later. The aims of the project, funded by the European Commission’s Information Society Technologies (IST) Programme were firstly to examine the scope of labour market restructuring in the development of a European information society and the challenges this poses to European welfare systems and secondly to explore the ways in which Information Society Technologies can offer solutions to the resulting challenges of ensuring social inclusion whilst promoting labour market efficiency in the development of a competitive knowledgebased economy.
(3) ITALY COUNTRY STUDY
Italy is characterised by a dual labour market. It is a deep divide that directly and hugely influences, and influences the shape of the social conditions and, surely, the prospects of the groups at risk. Chapter 1 is dedicated to examine this divide among the three Italian macroareas. The analysis shows that the last decade has witnessed a general increase of the activity and employment rates, but the Southern regions (Mezzogiorno) continues to show a high level of unemployment and a large degree of precarious employment. This context determines a strong concentration of groups which are at risk. Among these groups women, the young, immigrants are particularly over represented. Concerning the welfare state, Chapter 2 examines the composition of the social expenditure to check its impact on the more vulnerable groups. Starting from the fact that the overall spending on social protection is lower than the EU average, it shows the spending in some important sectors such as, invalidity, family, unemployment, housing and social exclusion is inadequate to meet the needs of the groups at risk, particularly within the economically and socially more fragile areas as the Mezzogiorno. Under this profile, there has been
during the last years a intense debate on the pension system and its reform. Chapter 3 is dedicated to the e-government action plan, in the extent in which it is directed to activate a widespread use of ICT as the source of deep changes in the ways and manners of delivering the main services of social protection system. This evolution permitted a more efficient provision of services towards the concerned citizens at large, and particularly improving the relationship between public administrations and the groups at risk. In this context, the role of the main social security provider (INPS) is examined, as an example of a high level of automated processes which allows it to develop an efficient relationship either towards all citizens, or towards the intermediate organizations whose reason to be is ease and improve the relationship with disadvantaged groups. In regards to a specific group at risk, immigrants, it is also illustrated the case of ICT utilisation to implement a wide process of immigrant’s regularisation.
(4) SWEDEN COUNTRY STUDY
The country study on Sweden is carried out considering that the Swedish model shows very peculiar aspects in the relation to the labour market, as well as to the welfare state. From this point of view, it is interesting to compare the Swedish scenario with the situation of the other countries analysed within the LAW project. Chapter 1, analysing the labour market, illustrates, as the objectives of Lisbon’s strategy with regard to employment, have been implemented and sometimes exceeded, showing a particularly high level of women’s employment and participation. In regards to the welfare state, the study analyses the composition of the social expenditure that in Sweden is, along with that of Denmark, the highest in Europe and within all OECD countries. That is considered a
remarkable exception, given the general tendency to shrink social expenses in order to reduce the tax rate. From this point of view, Sweden indicates that it is possible to reconcile a high level of welfare expenditure along with a high competitiveness in relation to the global markets. Albeit the high level of employment and the widespread welfare, some groups have to be considered at risk, given that their activity and employment rate is significantly lower than the national average. Chapter 2 examines these groups, drawing a particular attention to longterm sick workers, immigrants, the young , older people and people with disabilities. And it also points out that the Swedish government considers these groups at risk of exclusion and intends to implement measures to
increase their participation in labour market, aiming to avoid that Social security assistance becomes the only source of income for those who receive it. Concerning ICT development, Sweden, as it is known, is placed amongst the top IS ranking countries, and Chapter 3 shows that ICT plays an important role in improving social provisions. To losely observe the progress made in this field, two cases are examined, such as the model of
the e-prescription and the 24/7 Agency project, which is considered an important piece of platform mired to make Sweden the first country to become a true information society for the benefit of all its citizens.regularisation.
