UNDECLARED FLEXIBILITY. THE IRREGULARITIES IN NONSTANDARD WORK IN ITALY

The thesis focuses on new forms of irregularity emerging within the application of non-standard working contracts. By an empirical research in the province of Brescia and Cagliari it has been found that often non standard forms of employment are characterized by “gray areas” very difficult to identify within a clear legal framework. Precisely, flexible contractual arrangements, in particular self-employment contracts in Cagliari and illegal labour outsourcing in Brescia, are often used improperly by employers in order to lower production costs and sometimes disguise full-time subordinated working relations. The ultimate aim of the paper is to draw an analytical picture over the flexibility-irregularity relationship in Italy. The theoretical assumption asserting that the increasing use of nonstandard form of employment has always a positive effect on the reduction of undeclared work, which is usually considered as a phenomenon never intersecting with the formal work regulation, is here criticized. This paper claims the existence of a parallel mechanism of complementarity between irregularity and flexibility whenever their interaction results in the creation of new forms of undeclared work. The analysis finds here a new theoretical elaboration claiming the existence of a new management strategy here termed as “Undeclared flexibility” – meaning the practice of using part of the workforce in a flexible way within and outside the legal framework regulation according to the requirements of production, keeping the absolute level of tax payments at the minimum costs. The consequences on the supply side are the emergence of new social insecurities related to new type of irregularities.