Direct entry into the labour market is quicker after a work placement

It is difficult to attribute the decline in extracurricular work placements in Italia to a single cause. Legislation, first and foremost, appears to have played only a limited role, given that the most significant initiative was the announcement, in the 2022 Budget Law, of a major overhaul of the regulations governing such placements, which, however, never materialised. It was envisaged, in fact, that the Government and the Regions would draw up new common guidelines within 180 days, addressing issues such as allowances, duration, numerical limits, skills certification, quotas for new placements in relation to recruitment figures, and measures to combat abuse. More than four years on, those guidelines have not been approved and, barring measures taken by individual regions, the regional regulations based on the 2017 guidelines therefore continue to apply.

Some provisions of the Budget Act came into force immediately, particularly those aimed at combating the fraudulent use of work placements, but we are not dealing with a regulatory change significant enough to account for a reduction on this scale.

The reasons for the decline therefore appear to be primarily economic and linked to the labour market and its dynamics. Extracurricular work placements had experienced significant growth – partly driven by government incentives – during years characterised by high youth unemployment and weak labour demand. In that context, they could be used by companies as a lengthy recruitment process prior to taking on staff and, in the worst cases, as a low-cost substitute for a genuine employment relationship.

In recent years, the situation has changed. The fall in unemployment and the growing difficulty businesses face in recruiting staff – particularly young people with specific skills – have shifted the balance of power in the labour market. When there are few candidates, it becomes more difficult for a company to offer several months’ work experience before a contract, and in order to attract a candidate, it may be necessary to hire them directly or to shorten the process leading to recruitment. It is plausible that part of the decline in work experience placements stems precisely from this shift.

Another factor is the gradual reduction in the impetus provided by public policies. During the years of the ‘Garanzia Giovani’ scheme, work placements had become one of the main tools used to get young people into work, including many NEETs. With the shift to new active labour market policies, and in particular to the GOL programme, the focus has been spread more widely across training, reskilling, employment support and other measures. Work placements still exist, but they have lost some of the prominence they held in the previous phase of youth policy.