Di prossima pubblicazione in DRI n.3

The paper analyses the various national experiences of flexicurity and their weak points emphasized by the economic crisis, in particular the difficulty to guarantee the balance between the increased flexibility of employment relations and the promised security of employment. Following the indications of the European council (2009) new forms of internal flexibility, explored by a Eurofound survey, have been introduced in some countries with the aim of reinforcing employment stability and promoting job retention by the firms: flexible work time regimes, variable salaries, internal mobility, periods of leave finalized to allow professional retraining of employees and firm reorganization. A common purpose of this new paradigm of flexicurity is to promote transitions between jobs without passing through unemployment. The firms are often sustained by State aids but are asked to contribute to the employment security of their employees also after the end of the employment contract by supporting forms of outplacement and by financing social plans. The paper finally suggests the adoption in Italy of some good practices experimented in Europe in order to improve the functioning of the Italian version of flexicurity and to better finalize it to the promotion of decent work.