Nazareno Panichella

Social Inequalities in the Choice of Secondary School: Long-term trends during educational expansion and reforms in Italy

ABSTRACT The main aim of this work is to examine the long-term trends in the association between social class of origin, enrolment in upper secondary education and the choice of high school track. In the first part, we describe the Italian education system and the main educational reforms which occurred in the second half of the twentieth century. We also discuss several theories which can help to make predictions on the expected trends in vertical and horizontal inequalities in secondary education. We used binomial and multinomial logistic regression models on data from the Italian Households Longitudinal Survey to test our hypotheses. In line with the maximally maintained inequality argument, we found that absolute inequalities in the probability of enrolling in upper secondary education declined but relative inequality persisted. As predicted by the ‘effectively maintained inequality’ thesis, the association between social class of origin and the choice of the academic track grew over time (both in absolute and in relative terms). This is because children from the upper classes became increasingly likely to attend the academic track, while those from the working class were more likely to attend the technical and vocational schools. The educational reforms played a negligible role in reducing social inequalities in school prosecution after lower secondary education, while they had a side effect of boosting horizontal inequality in track choice.

The occupational integration of migrant women in Western European labour markets

This paper studies the integration of migrant women in six European labour markets, highlighting how their migration penalty is related to the family’s migration dynamics and to the husband’s occupational condition. In order to compare the labour market outcomes of native and migrant women, Linear Probability Models are estimated using EU–LFS data. Results show that migrant women are penalized everywhere. However, in the Mediterranean labour markets their employment penalty is lower, while the penalty concerning job quality, conditional on employment, is relatively severe. Regarding the role of family migration, results show that: tied-movers women were disadvantaged with respect to both natives and other migrants; those migrants whose partners were unemployed or had low-quality jobs were more likely to find a job than those whose husbands had a good occupational condition. Both patterns were stronger in Mediterranean labour markets.

Migration strategies and occupational outcomes of southern Italian graduates

Abstract The aim of this work is to analyse whether internal migration of graduates is an efficient strategy for addressing scarce occupational opportunities in southern Italy. Analysis of data on the southern graduate population in 2004 shows the rise of a new aspect of social discrimination for recent graduates in the process of transition to the labour market. In fact, the probabilities of adopting different strategies of geographical mobility are not homogeneously distributed, but they change on the basis of available family resources. This differentiation has an impact on labour market outcomes, modifying strategies and ways that lead the transition towards employment.

Social stratification, secondary school tracking and university enrolment in Italy

This paper looks at class inequality in the probability of enrolling in university in Italy from a long-term perspective. Given that Italian higher secondary education is tracked, it studies how tracking interacts over time with class origin in the production of inequality of educational opportunities, thus contributing to the growing literature on the inequality effects of the qualitative, or horizontal, stratification of educational systems. The paper has thus two research questions. First, it asks whether class inequality in participation in higher education has changed over time; second, whether and how this change was influenced by the tracked structure of upper secondary school. Empirical analyses are based on data from the Italian Longitudinal Household Survey, a retrospective panel survey including detailed life-course information about a representative sample of the Italian population. In an educational transition framework, we analyse the association between social class, tracking and university enrolment, applying the Karlson/Holm/Breen decomposition method for logistic regression coefficients. We find increasing inequality in accessing university, and a change in the role of upper secondary track, whose mediating role between family background and university choice appears to have weakened over time.

Economic crisis and occupational integration of recent immigrants in Western Europe

There are two models of inclusion of recent immigrants in Western Europe. In the Continental model immigrants are penalized in terms of both probabilities of being employed and job quality. In the Mediterranean one there is a stronger trade-off between a limited risk of unemployment and a lower job quality. Did the recession foster a convergence or a divergence between these two models? This article focuses on this issue and analyses the integration of immigrants in 10 countries, using EU-LFS data (2005–2012) and considering two occupational outcomes: the probability of being employed, and the probability of avoiding the unskilled working class. It also studies the turnover between unemployment and dependent employment. The crisis generated a partial and limited convergence between the two models, involving only male immigrants living in Southern Europe. In these countries immigrants experienced higher risks of unemployment because the crisis diminished their turnover between unemployment and dependent employment.

The fertility of male immigrants: a comparative study on six Western European countries

ABSTRACT Migration has a huge demographic impact on European societies, especially when migrant populations have different levels and patterns of fertility, union formation and mortality, contributing to population size and composition. Nevertheless, comparative studies focusing on the association between migration and fertility, and how it evolves during the migration process, are still scarce. This work analyses the fertility of male migrants in six European countries: France, Germany, Italy, Spain, The Netherlands and United Kingdom. Using data from the EU-LFS (2005–2015), results show that migrants are more likely to have at least one child and larger family size than natives, except those coming from Eastern Europe and Central America. Nevertheless, time since migration is a crucial element to explain their fertility: migrants from any country of origin have lower propensities of parenthood immediately after migration, whereas their fertility increases over time spent in the host society. We then find evidence of disruption in the short-run and of socialization once migrants settle in the new society, especially in Southern European countries.

Per scelta o per costrizione? La decisione di mettersi in proprio in tempo di crisi

Lo scopo di questo lavoro e descrivere e sistematizzare la varieta dei percorsi che portano alcuni individui a creare una microimpresa. Dalle interviste e emerso che, durante periodi di recessione economica, la tesi dell’unemplyment push e quella della mobilita sociale potrebbero non essere i n contrapposizione. E i nvece possibile che ci sia una sorta di effetto di interazione tra mancanza di opportunita occupazionali e investimenti volti a migliorare la propria posizione sociale. Infatti, nel caso dei soggetti che hanno effettuato un investimento in mobilita sociale antecedente al mercato del lavoro, la carenza di buone opportunita occupazionali puo rappresentare un reale incentivo a mettersi in proprio. Anche in questi casi l’accesso al lavoro autonomo e visto come un investimento in mobilita sociale, ma e la mancanza di opportunita lavorative che rende conveniente l’apertura di una microimpresa.