57849 - Labour Policies

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course, students will be able to:

• Compare labour market policy regimes and growth models.
• Analyse labour market institutions and outcomes using comparative data.
• Evaluate labour market and work–care policies from a gender and social inequality perspective.
• Critically assess the regulation of platform work and algorithmic management.
• Examine the impact of digitalization on labour market governance and policy implementation.
• Produce evidence-based policy briefs and formulate policy recommendations grounded in empirical analysis.

 

Course contents

Weeks 1–2–3

Labour Market Policies, Growth Models, and Labour Policy Regimes

The first section defines labour market policies and their areas of intervention. It then provides a comparative analysis of different labour policy regimes and labour market protection models, highlighting distinct trajectories of regulation and liberalisation, including dualization, embedded flexibilization, and deregulation.

• Labour market policies and areas of intervention
• Growth models
• Labour policy regimes
• Labour market protection models

Laboratory Session 1: Reading Labour Policy Regimes Through Data (Group Work)

Indicators

• Employment rate, unemployment rate (including long-term unemployment), inactivity rate, and gender gap
• Temporary employment
• Part-time work (voluntary/involuntary) and gender differences
• Expenditure and composition of labour market policy spending (active and passive measures)
• Employment Protection Legislation (EPL)
• Union density and collective bargaining coverage
• Labour productivity
• Wage inequality and gender pay gap
• In-work poverty

Datasets

• Eurostat – EU Labour Force Survey (EU-LFS)
• Eurostat – EU Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC)
• OECD – Labour Market Programmes
• OECD – Employment Protection Legislation Database
• OECD Productivity Database
• ILOSTAT
• ICTWSS Database (Trade Unions, Wage Setting, State Intervention and Social Pacts)

Output

Mini policy brief (2–3 pages)

Research question:

“What type of labour policy regime emerges from the data for the assigned country?”

Weeks 4–5

Work and Care Regimes

This section examines policies regulating work and the compatibility between work and family life. Particular attention is paid to the relationship between parental support policies and inequalities in the careers of men and women (the gender employment gap), with a specific focus on the so-called child penalty.

• Active social policies: intersections and overlaps between labour market policies and work–life balance policies
• Gender employment models: the impact of labour market and family policies

Laboratory Session 2: Types of Policies (Group Work)

Case studies:

• GOL (Garanzia Occupabilità dei Lavoratori – Workers’ Employability Guarantee), Italy
• Maternity, paternity, and parental leave schemes: models and countries
• ECEC (Early Childhood Education and Care): models and countries

Students are required to:

• Identify the public problem
• Reconstruct the policy instruments
• Analyse available data
• Discuss strengths and weaknesses

Output

Professional policy brief (4 pages)

Choose one intervention and illustrate:

Problem

What public problem is the policy intended to address?

Target

Which social groups or categories of workers does the intervention target?

Identify direct and indirect beneficiaries, as well as any eligibility or exclusion criteria.

Instruments

Which policy instruments are used?

Reconstruct how the intervention operates (services, incentives, transfers, regulation, governance arrangements, actors involved, and implementation mechanisms).

Evidence

What findings emerge from the literature and available data?

Discuss strengths, limitations, expected and unintended effects, including through international comparisons.

Recommendations

What modifications or improvements could increase the policy’s effectiveness, equity, or accessibility?

Develop evidence-based proposals grounded in the analysis.

Weeks 6–7–8

Platform Work and Algorithmic Management

Understanding how the governance and control of work are changing in the digital economy. Platform economy and gig economy. Digital platforms as new labour market intermediaries and the transformation of employment relations within the gig economy.

• Digital platforms and platform capitalism
• Gig economy and crowdwork
• On-demand work
• Autonomy versus subordination
• Information asymmetries
• Ratings and reputation systems
• Precariousness and conflict
• Public regulation of platforms

Laboratory Session 3: Regulating Digital Labour Platforms (Group Work) Output

Policy brief

Research question:

“How should a digital labour platform be regulated?”

Analyse and discuss Directive (EU) 2024/2831 on Improving Working Conditions in Platform Work, adopted in 2024.

https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/IT/TXT/PDF/?uri=OJ:L_202402831

Weeks 9–10

Digitalisation and the Implementation of Labour Market Policies

Understanding how digitalisation transforms the delivery of labour market policies and how frontline public service workers (street-level bureaucrats) exercise discretionary power in policy implementation.

 

Readings/Bibliography

Labour Market Policies, Growth Models, and Labour Policy Regimes

Required Reading

Rizza, R., & Scarano, G. (2023), Nuovi modelli di politica del lavoro [New Models of Labour Market Policy], Milan: Egea, Chapters 2–3, pp. 5–45.

One of the Following:

• Hassel, A., Palier, B., & Avlijaš, S. (2020), “The Pursuit of Growth: Growth Regimes, Growth Strategies and Welfare Reforms in Advanced Capitalist Economies”, Stato e Mercato, No. 1, pp. 41–77.
• Thelen, K. (2014), “Labour Market Policy”, in Varieties of Liberalization and the New Politics of Social Solidarity, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 112–152.
• Ferragina, E., & Filetti, F. D. (2022), “Labour Market Protection Across Space and Time: A Revised Typology and a Taxonomy of Countries’ Trajectories of Change”, Journal of European Social Policy, 32(2), pp. 148–165.

Work and Care Regimes

Required Reading

Bonoli, G. (2010), “The Political Economy of Active Labour Market Policy”, Politics & Society, 38(4), pp. 435–457.

One of the Following:

• Seo, H. (2023), “Gendered Labour Market Patterns Across Europe: Does Family Policy Mitigate the Feminization of Outsiders?”, Journal of European Social Policy, 33(1), pp. 3–16.
• Kowalewska, H. (2023), “Gendered Employment Patterns: Women’s Labour Market Outcomes Across 24 Countries”, Journal of European Social Policy, 33(2), pp. 151–168.
• Rizza, R., Cattani, L., Giuliani, G., & Paraciani, R. (2025), Non è un lavoro per madri. Perché in Italia la maternità resta un ostacolo al lavoro [Not a Job for Mothers: Why Motherhood Remains an Obstacle to Employment in Italy], Milan: Fondazione Feltrinelli, selected excerpts provided by the instructor.
• Maestripieri, L., Palomera, D., & Rizza, R. (2023), “Bridging Gaps: How Investment in Public Childcare Affects Women’s Employment in Italy and Spain”, South European Society and Politics, 28(4), pp. 439–468.

Platform Work and Algorithmic Management

Required Reading

Rosenblat, A., & Stark, L. (2016), “Algorithmic Labor and Information Asymmetries: A Case Study of Uber’s Drivers”, International Journal of Communication, 10, pp. 3758–3784.

One of the Following:

• Wood, A., & Lehdonvirta, V. (2021), “Antagonism Beyond Employment: How the ‘Subordinated Agency’ of Labour Platforms Generates Conflict in the Remote Gig Economy”, Socio-Economic Review, 19(4), pp. 1369–1396.
• Aloisi, A. (2016), “Commodified Workers: Case Study Research on Labour Law Issues Arising from a Set of ‘On-Demand/Gig Economy’ Platforms”, Comparative Labor Law & Policy Journal, 37(3), pp. 653–690.
• Kellogg, K. C., Valentine, M. A., & Christin, A. (2020), “Algorithms at Work: The New Contested Terrain of Control”, Academy of Management Annals, 14(1), pp. 366–410.

Digitalisation and the Implementation of Labour Market Policies

Required Reading

van Berkel, R. (2023), “The Changing Role of Frontline Employment Advisors”, Chapter 26 in Handbook of Labour Market Policy in Advanced Democracies, Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar.

One of the Following:

• Paraciani, R., & Rizza, R. (2021), “When the Workplace Is the Home: Labour Inspectors’ Discretionary Power in the Field of Domestic Work – An Institutional Analysis”, Journal of Public Policy, 41(1).
• Henman, P. W. F. (2022), “Digital Social Policy: Past, Present, Future”, Journal of Social Policy, 51(3), pp. 535–550.
• Körtner, J., & Bonoli, G. (2023), “Predictive Algorithms in the Delivery of Public Employment Services”, Chapter 27 in Handbook of Labour Market Policy in Advanced Democracies, Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar.
• Sacchi, S., & Scarano, G. (2025), “Digital Transformation of Public Employment Services in the Post-Pandemic Era: Evidence from Italy as a Latecomer Country”, Australian Journal of Social Issues, 60(4).

 

 

 

Teaching methods

Lectures will be combined with laboratory sessions involving group discussions and case studies, aimed at enhancing students’ understanding of and engagement with the topics covered throughout the course. The laboratory component is designed to foster active learning, critical reflection, collaborative work, and the application of theoretical concepts to empirical and policy-relevant issues.

Assessment methods

The course aims to assess students’ ability to:

• critically understand the main models of labour market policy;
• analyse and compare labour market policy interventions and their interaction with family policies;
• use data and empirical research findings to interpret labour market issues;
• formulate evidence-based policy evaluations and recommendations.

Attending Students

Assessment is based on:

• participation in laboratory activities and group work;
• preparation of the policy briefs assigned during the course;
• an individual final oral examination covering the topics discussed in lectures and laboratory sessions.

The final grade will take into account both the quality of the written assignments produced during the semester and the student’s ability to critically discuss the theoretical concepts and empirical evidence covered in the course.

For the final assessment:

• laboratory activities and policy briefs account for 40% of the final grade;
• the final oral examination accounts for 60% of the final grade.

Non-Attending Students

Non-attending students will be assessed through an oral examination covering the entire course syllabus and the readings listed in the bibliography.

 

Teaching tools

Videos and papers not included in the texts but particularly significant for the topics covered in class. Slides and other teaching materials will be available to the students in electronic format on Virtuale. Username and password are reserved for students enrolled at the University of Bologna.

Office hours

See the website of Roberto Rizza