Executive Summary Traineeships Regulation in Italy after the Fornero Labour Market Reform www.bollettinoadapt.it Internships in Italy have new rules since the 2012 Fornero labour market reform that changed the regulatory framework, establishing minimum standard guidelines for open market traineeships. Most of the 20 Italian regions and two autonomous provinces, which, according to a federal system of competences allocations, are the unique responsible for regulating education and training, have legislated in order that their previous norms meet the new minimum standards. Notwithstanding the fact that Fornero s goal was the creation of a homogeneous quality framework for internships in Italy, the results revealed by the ADAPT evaluation report seem to contradict such goal; the evaluation indicated its failure given the multiplication of different regulations and increased heterogeneity. With the free ebook on traineeships regulation in Italy, ADAPT researchers aimed at filling the gap of a missing institutional monitoring report by providing a complete analysis of traineeships regulation at the Italian regional level. Besides describing and explaining new law provisions, the analysis stresses in a critical way single regional norms and assesses the existence of higher heterogeneity, especially with reference to the types of traineeships that have been regulated, the definition of third parties who are entitled to promote traineeships, the amount of remuneration to be paid to trainees and the quantitative limits for hosting trainees (see tables 13). Moreover, the regulatory framework is far from being complete as regulations are either incomplete or not operating in a third of the Italian regions. Figure 1 State of the art on traineeships in Italy: Existence of an updated regulation Regulatory heterogeneity Despite the deadline of 24 July 2013, not all regions have already adopted Fornero guidelines on traineeships. In fact, only 12 out of 20 regions (greencoloured) have published a new, fully operating law embracing national minimum standards. 5 regions and 2 autonomous provinces (yellowcoloured) have legislated on traineeships but their legislation is still incomplete or not operating until the approval of further ones. Finally 2 regions (orangecoloured) did not yet publish any regulation. Source: ADAPT
Figure 2 Map of minimum trainee remuneration Source: ADAPT Economic heterogeneity The Fornero labour reform introduced an important innovation in the regulation of open market traineeships in Italy: The mandatory provision of trainees remuneration amounting to a minimum of 300 Euro. Given the federal system existing with regards to education and training issues, each region may decide for a higher remuneration. In fact, as reported in the analysis, the highest variability across regions is to be noticed regarding the minimum compensation with amounts ranging from 300 Euro to 600 Euro without a particular logic (neither the standard of living not performance). The most generous regions are Abruzzo and Piemonte, where interns must be paid a minimum of 600 Euro, followed by Toscana and Friuli Venezia Giulia (500 Euro), Emilia Romagna and Puglia (450 Euro), Calabria, Campania, Lazio and Liguria (), Lombardia and Veneto (400 or 300 Euro, depending upon the granting of restaurant tickets) and, in the end, Marche (350 Euro). Basilicata and Sicilia decided to pay the minimum compensation as legislated by national guidelines: 300 Euro. The introduction of a mandatory pay for internships risks making them similar to entrylevel contracts instead of training tools. Compensation is set on an hourly basis in many regions: A minimum of 300 Euro for a commitment of maximum 20 hours per week, a minimum of 600 Euro for a fulltime traineeship (as happens in Piemonte or Friuli Venezia Giulia with a maximum of 500 Euro). Compensation is a function of time in other regions as well, for example in Lazio, Lombardia and Veneto, where pay is reduced as the time dedicated by the trainee decreases. New traineeship regulations do not give enough attention to the role of third parties 1 in order to guarantee the quality of training as well as skill certification. Despite the aim of reducing internship abuse, the report stresses the existence of a contradictory effect of such regulations, actually making it an attractive, lowcost alternative to apprenticeships and other regular contracts, and thus distorting its original training function. 1 In Italy traineeships must be promoted by a third party that links the trainee with the firm and is the guarantor of quality and safety.
Table 1 Types and durations Regions Types Maximum duration Minimum duration Abruzzo the Basilicata Bolzano 500 hours or 624 months Calabria the Campania 1 month the Emilia Romagna the Friuli Venezia Giulia the 18 months Lazio Access and reinsertion into the labour market: and inactive people, recipients of unemployment benefits
Liguria 12 (disabled) and Sospensione delle lezioni Lombardia the 24 (disabled) Traineeships included in formal education and training Established by education and training curricula Marche e the disabled people 24 months Molise the Piemonte the Puglia + 30 days and Sicilia
the 1 Toscana the 24 (disabled) Trento disabled people 24 months Umbria Veneto and () 9 months (disadvantaged) (particularly disadvantaged) Table 2 Mandatory minimum pay Regions Abruzzo Basilicata Bolzano Calabria Campania Mandatory minimum pay 600 Euro 300 Euro For training and vocational guidance 300 Euro to younger than 18 to older than 18 Labour market inclusion in favour of the and
Emilia Romagna Friuli Venezia Giulia Lazio Liguria Lombardia Marche 450 Euro 300 Euro (20 hours/week) 500 Euro (40 hours/week) ; in proportion to time worked if participation of the trainee is less then 70% monthly 300 Euro (restaurant ticket or parttime) 350 Euro Molise Piemonte Puglia Sicilia Toscana 300 Euro (20 hours/week) 600 Euro (40 hours/week) 450 Euro 300 Euro 500 Euro Trento Umbria Veneto 300 Euro (restaurant ticket) 200 Euro (20 hours/week) Table 3 Maximum number of interns that a firm can host simultaneously Regions Abruzzo Maximum number of interns that a firm can host simultaneously Between 1 and 6: 1 intern Between 7 and 19: 2 interns More than 19: 10% of interns Basilicata Bolzano Calabria Campania Between 0 and 5: 1 intern, temporary workers, is duration of the contract is at least equal to the duration of traineeship and cooperative associates Between 0 and 5: 1 intern Between 1 and 4: 1 intern
Between 5 and 8: 2 interns Between 9 and 12: 3 interns Between 13 and 16: 4 interns Between 17 and 20: 5 interns More than 20: 20% of interns Emilia Romagna Friuli Venezia Giulia Lazio Liguria Lombardia Marche 0 5: 1 intern Between 1 and 5: 1 intern Between 6 and 19: 2 interns More than 19: 10% of interns Based on total number of workers and cooperative associates Up to 5: 1 intern Between 0 and 5: 1 intern Based on permanent and termporary workers (at least 1), included firm s associates Between 0 and 5: 1 intern; ; Between 0 and 5: 1 intern Between 6 a 20: 2 interns Molise Piemonte Puglia Sicilia Toscana, temporary workers (at least 6 months duration), firm s associates 0 5: 1 intern 0 5: 1 intern Based on the number of permanent and temporary workers 0 5: 2 interns Between 6 and 20: 4 interns More than 20: 20% of interns and cooperative associates Between 1 and 6: 1 intern Between 7 and 19: 2 interns
More than 19: 10% of interns Public companies: 10% of interns Trento Between 1 and 5: 1 intern Between 6 and 19: 2 interns More than 19: 10% of interns Umbria Veneto 0: 1 intern Between 1 and 5 dipendenti: 1 intern