Labour Market Segmentation and Workers’Careers: the Case of the Italian Knitwear Industry

This paper reports on empirical research into the labour market in the knitwear and ready-to-wear industry in the province of Modena (Carpi, Italy). In particular, it looks at the careers of three categories of worker: homeworkers, those employed on the production lines of larger firms, and artisans. We chose to interview 100 workers for each group. The main result is that a large proportion of the workforce are able to assure themselves “good jobs” even within highly competitive small firms where union protection is minimal and government legislation frequently avoided. It depends upon three closely interrelated kinds of influence: 1. the characteristics of the industrial district; 2. the subordination of both subcontracting firms and individual out-workers located outside Carpi’s industrial “enclave” to Carpi-based firms; 3. full employment which stems from a success in both national and international product markets.