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The focus of this paper is on the relationships between social origin, participation in tertiary education (enrolment, drop-out, enrolment at second level and post-tertiary education) and occupational instability among university graduates in a recent period of university and labour market reforms (the differentiation of higher education due to the 'Bologna process' and the flexibilization of employment contracts). In the first part of the paper we review these institutional reforms, discussing how they have changed the structure of opportunities and constraints for students and graduates. In the second part we analyse data from several cross-section waves of the Upper Secondary Graduates Survey and the University Graduates Survey which cover both pre- and post-reform cohorts. Results from logistic regression models show a slight decline in the association between parents' education and enrolment in tertiary education, whereas there is a reduction and a new increase of inequality in drop-outs. We also find remarkable effects of parents' education on enrolment in post-graduate courses, but smaller on the risks of having unstable jobs and both are mainly stable over time. Only a slight reduction of the role of social origin in university participation and in the transition to the labour market took place, but it seems not to be too closely connected to the specific reforms which occurred in the 1990s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Labor market ‘flexibilization’ or ‘deregulation’ is seen by many as a requirement for economic and occupational growth. As one route towards more flexibility, many European countries increased the so-called atypical or non-standard forms of employment while leaving the regulation of existing employment relations largely unchanged. In Italy, this led to a strong segmentation of the labour market. As employment is the only connection to a series of welfare entitlements, this praxis might lead to strong cleavages in the society. In this paper, we investigate the ongoing process of labour market ‘flexibilization’ and its consequences for individual labour market careers and social inequalities and ask whether the deregulation has fulfilled the expectations attached to it. In detail, we study the entries into the marginal labour market and the consequences for employment careers of these forms of ‘new’ flexible employment. Empirical findings based on Indagine Longitudinale sulle Famiglie Italiane data cast doubts on the effectiveness of the specific form of market deregulation in Italy and confirm strong long-term implications of atypical employment episodes for career chances. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Business cycles in wealthier countries reflected a continuous transformation of spatial organizations of both countries and regions, possibly strengthening social inequalities and polarization in more and less productive areas. Local job markets are particularly sensitive to changes in both settlement forms and socioeconomic functions, being in turn dependent on more intense regional divides and product dynamics. More specifically, economic downturns were assumed to influence regional spatial structures. To validate this hypothesis, we investigated (i) spatial regime and (ii) short-term changes of both activity rate and unemployment rate (taken as proxies of local job market functioning) in 686 homogeneous districts of Italy over three periods: (i) employment growth reflecting moderate income expansion (2004–2007); (ii) early crisis' stage with a modest increase of unemployment (2007–2010); and (iii) late crisis' stage with marked increase of unemployment (2010–2013). The empirical analysis identified the socioeconomic factors that characterize job market dynamics more effectively. Results pointed out that the 2007 recession corresponded with decreased spatial polarizations in unemployment rate, resulting in a deepening of the traditional gap between affluent northern regions and disadvantaged southern areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]