Navigating Insecure Labour Markets through Social Dialogue: A Qualitative Survey of Measures for Older Workers in Italy

In contemporary societies, the growth of non-standard employment and casualisation of work have been progressively associated with retirement age reforms that over time have postponed the attainment of pension eligibility requirements. This dynamic is having damaging effects on older workers, who are often too young to retire but considered too aged to access retraining programmes. This condition of increasing precariousness is particularly widespread in Italy, also in relation to both the structure of the welfare state, which is strongly familistic, and the lack of active labour-market policies and the prevalence of passive ones. Moreover, the recent reforms affecting social shock absorbers have considerably reduced the possibility for many older workers to join the pension scheme once they have lost their jobs. A key issue therefore lies in investigating measures and policies, carried out both centrally and within decentralised bargaining, oriented towards the management of older workers and job transitions in older age. Through qualitative research involving semi-structured interviews with trade unionists, members of employers' organisations, experts and managers, this contribution aims to identify measures, best practices and policies designed at supporting the inclusion of the mature workforce at work and the management of the aging of workers.