Uncertain lives. Insights into the role of job precariousness on family formation practices in Italy

Valentina Tocchioni, Università di Firenze
Daniele Vignoli, Università di Firenze
Silvana Salvini, Università di Firenze

The diffusion of temporary job contracts in contemporary European societies has raised concern that these jobs may constitute a source of insecurity and precariousness for young workers and their families. Little is known about its possible social and demographic consequences, especially as regards family formation. We focused on this knowledge-gap by examining how job precariousness may affect union formation practices in Italy. We study both genders and we combine the empirical evidence from both qualitative and quantitative research. The qualitative research provides an in-depth understanding into the mechanisms of how uncertain forms of employment and atypical jobs may affect the individual decisions on union formation. By means of quantitative analyses we test how strong these mechanisms are in the general population. Our results suggest that cohabitation can be linked to the growing labour market uncertainty while marriage to stability.