Ageing population and generational turn-over in the Italian labour market: towards a sustainable solidarity

Ageing population and youth unemployment are the major challenges that Western Countries – and Italy in particular – are facing in recent years. These phenomena have a significant impact not only on the labour market and the welfare system, but also on the organisational models of work. Therefore, the management of generational turn-over is an important issue on the political agenda, as attested by recent Italian legislative measures: intergenerational pacts, early retirement incentives, solidarity contracts, etc… In particular, this paper aims to focus on the “rediscovery” of expansive solidarity contracts: they have been in the Italian legal system for about thirty years (art. 2 Decree Law no. 726/1984), but they have been little used or not used at all.