Persistent at-Risk-of-Poverty Rate in Italy (2007-2010)

Abstract

We propose an analysis of the persistent at-risk-of-poverty (PARP) rate in Italy at the onset of the Great Recession. Italy represents an interesting case study because it has one of the highest PARP rates in Europe, together with a flexible labour market and an inadequate social security system. A territorial dualism characterises the country, with the South witnessing worse off standards of living.Our main result is that male employees, the category most protected by the welfare system, are more likely to prevent their households from experiencing persistent poverty. Women, traditionally playing a secondary economic role, let their households more likely to be persistently poor, whatever their source income. The South disadvantage slightly decreases at the beginning of the crisis. This is due to the worsening economic conditions in the North-Centre, whose production was affected to a wider extent by the economic downturn. Analysing poverty and its underlying process may be useful in designing social policies aimed at reducing poverty and contrasting inequalities. The study of poverty studies and of related policy issues for targeted population would benefit from longer datasets. These would allow to analyse poverty transitions and their determinants, by taking explicitly into account poverty duration.