Voluntary Occupational Welfare in Italy. Brussels, 5th December 2013 Ugo Ascoli Marche Polythenic University

Transcription

1 Voluntary Occupational Welfare in Italy Brussels, 5th December 2013 Ugo Ascoli Marche Polythenic University

2 The Italian Welfare State 1. A mix between occupational (pensions and unemployment), universalistic (health care and education) and residual (social care and housing) schemes 2. A Welfare State caracterised also by strong familism, clientelism and dualism The transformations over the last two decades have mainly followed a mix between a retrenchment and a restructuring path

3 Health care, Reconciliation and Education and training policies in Italy Health Care: cost containment, cuts and copayment, slow growth of per capita health expenditure and regionalisation Reconciliation: measures to support reconciliation very poor, family policies underdeveloped, child care services with a very low level of coverage Education and Training: not a field of relevant public action; the public system not very efficient; relevance of programmes by enterprises

4 Industrial relations in Italy The main features: - a medium-high level of union density (33%) - a high rate of collective bargaining coverage (80%) - a good propensity for social dialogue - a strong capacity for mobilisation in industrial actions The changes with the economic crisis: - Less Social Dialogue - Shift from Industry-wide bargaining to the territorial and company level - Strong and rapid diffusion of Bilateral organisms to cope with many welfare measures

5 VOW in Italy: Pensions and Health Care Pensions: introduction of the second pillar - cuts and reform in the public system - 5 million members of supplementary pensions (22% total employment) - great fragmentation of protection against risk related to old age Health Care: - booming of Health Care Integrated Funds (HCIFs) at a industrial sector level and at the company level - 4 million members of HCIFs (20% total employment) - increasingly playing a substitutive role of the NHS - potential mechanism of NHS delegitimizing and policy drift

6 VOW in Italy: Reconciliation and Education and Training Reconciliation: - diffusion of flexible working time policies (including parttime work) - diffusion of maternity and paternal leave through collective agreements - increasing diffusion of child care services inside and thanks to enterprises Education and training: - strong diffusion in medium-large size enterprises (80% of enterprises with more than 250 employees offer CVET) - a lower participation rate compared with other Countries - bilateralism now assuming a key role - the growth of inter-professional funds thanks to agreements among Government, Trade Unions and Enterprises

7 1. Occupational welfare through sector-level bargaining It is around two pillars that the OW through sector-level bargaining takes place in Italy: a) supplementary pensions schemes b) integrative health care funds 2. What happens inside enterprises Type: % Workers who affirm that their enterprise offers directly or reimburses: - health care, health care funds support for education and training allows regularly flexible working hours for personal 21.9 reasons - kindergarten 2.3 Type: % of firms having introduced welfare provisions Pension fund 87.5 Health fund 60.6 Availability of extra leave 27.6 Income supports 23.3 Scholarships 23.1 Child care services 18.5 Ltc fund 9.4 Housing 6.7

8 Timing of OW in large Italian enterprises (2012) Year of institution Provisions of welfare Before Scholarships Pension fund Integrative Health care fund Ltc fund Child care services Availability of extra leave

9 Factors affecting the growth of occupational welfare in Italy Motivations of enterprises for the introduction of welfare provisions in the workplaces Exchange of welfare services vs. wage moderation 38.1% Collaboration between business and employee 33.3% Fidelization of workers 22.3% Union's power of lobbying at the firm level 18.1% Paternalism of the employer 7.2%

10 Potential negative consequences of VOW in Italy 1. Limited negative effects of VOW in training and education, as well as in reconciliation: only potential negative effects are an increase in dualization processes (workers in big vs. small enterprises, with fixed-term vs. open ended contracts, white collar workers vs. blue collar ones, etc.) 2. Potential negative effects with respect to universalism in health care: clear possibility that funds will become a tool to undermine the NHS universalist approach, acting as a policy drift mechanism; designed and defined formally for a general integrative aim for raising the level of coverage of the Italian health care system, they become instruments that tacitly partially substitute public intervention in a country that has already a public per capita spending on health among the lowest in Western Europe.