Where is Italian domestic labor law moving toward

Abstract

This article asks where Italian domestic labor law is moving, arguing that the question requires distinguishing domestic from international labor law. International labor law is presented as centred on the recognition of fundamental rights, while liberal democracies are described as delivering workers' rights domestically along a market-oriented path for employment. It traces employment policy in European integration from the Amsterdam Treaty to the Lisbon Treaty's entry into force in 2009, and argues that labor law is no longer only the adjustment of the opposing interests of employee and employer but an area of law in which many different interests, such as family care, environmental risks and regional disparities, must find their settlement. It contrasts formal (positive) and substantial approaches to law. Turning to recent Italian legislation, the article examines the reforms of subordinated work and self-employment, which give the central State a stronger role in managing employment, stress the balance between workers' treatment, family needs, welfare and productive goals, and, in the 2014 Reform, recognise the need for a statutory hourly wage. It describes how the 2014 and 2017 legislation, through the national agency ANPAL, returned central coordination of employment services to the State, which now exercises governance over the labor market, and notes that ANPAL also delivers the unemployment benefit (reddito di cittadinanza) introduced in 2018.

Abstract prepared by the editorial office from the full text of the article; the authors did not supply one.