Introduction [Non-Standard Employment and Quality of Work]

Starting with an analysis of the effects of the Great Recession on the Italian labour market, this essay turns to the diffusion of non standard work to introduce the different aims of the volume. The attention is first directed towards the labour supply characteristics of non standard workers then to the spread of non-standard work in Italy. The Authors investigate the reasons behind it from a dynamic perspective and analyze the incoming and outgoing flows from non-standard employment. The Authors then introduce another crucial issue at the heart of the volume: the impact of non-standard employment on the quality of work and the long-term consequences of non-standard employment on firms and their competitive capacity.