Flexibility and its measures: the Italian case

Flexibility of work is an important element in present-day economical and political debates, but a clear and univocal definition of the concept does not exist. The objective of this paper is to identify its various theoretical and operative possibilities, focusing especially on the forms of flexible work connected to the risk of job insecurity. In the first part of the paper we underline the complexity and the polysemy of the concept; in the second part, we focus on research methodology and we try to understand how and to what extent this concept overlaps, fades into or gets mixed up with other similar ones (casual, atypical, non-standard, parasubordinate, temporary work). For this reason we will review some of the most important and recent studies on the phenomenon – based on surveys made by ISTAT, INPS, ISFOL,IRES-CGIL, pointing out similarities and differences as to the methodology used and the results obtained.