Work Note 23/2023 by A. Valentini
In recent decades, there has been a marked polarisation of the labour market in advanced countries, with a joint growth of the most and least skilled segments of the labour force, together with a reduction in the demand for routine intermediate, cognitive and non-skilled qualifications. The Italian economy, however, is characterised by a very limited growth of high-skilled employment, which offers better remuneration, and a very accentuated growth of low-skilled employment, with less protection and remuneration. Therefore, in the Italian case one can speak more accurately of an asymmetrical polarisation shifted towards the less qualified tertiary sector, with all the risks this entails for the solidity of the country’s economic future. Re-elaborating the data relative to the Compulsory Communications (CO), let us analyse the evolution of the polarisation phenomenon in Tuscany from 2009 to 2022. Like the national context, Tuscany has observed, over the last decade, an asymmetric polarisation, decisively shifted towards the lowest quartile of the distribution of occupations by level of average hourly wage. The analysis disaggregated by geographic area and by sectoral composition of the production fabric suggests an evolution explained by the sectoral composition and by the other characteristics of the production base, but which must be adequately addressed, because it introduces elements of fragility for the socio-econo
