Generation replacement on the labor market

In Italy the generational handover differs, according to the regions and depends on the different dynamism characterizing the labour market in a specific region. Consequentially, in industrialized areas, where the labour market is more articulated and dynamic, the differences in employment between young people and adults are minimal. The labour supply in the northern area of Italy is much greater than in the southern one due to the shortage of industrial apparatus in the South; such a labour offer is paid by a labour demand from the entire national territory. In the South, the young trained to enter the job market where the job offer is low, inevitably end up shifting their demand to the North. This shift results in a problematic consequence, such as the lack of an effective generational change within the labour market: in the south, indeed, the so called ‘older generations’ are inserted within a non-differentiated market, giving rise to a lower turnover than in the North. The solution to this considerable gap can be found in more financing for the South: the increase in investments in the tertiary sector in southern Italy could lead to the establishment of an industrial structure. Setting up new companies could consequently shift the flow of young people from the northern areas to the southern ones, through the labor’s supply and demand. In a scenario in which these differences within the national territory are minimal, the retirement age would be reduced by facilitating the implementation of turnover and a lowering of the average age of entry into the labor market. Conversely, in a context where this phenomenon does not occur, there will be economic-demographic consequences not only limited to the southern area but with strong repercussions on the entire nation. If the job’s demand does not move to the South, the new generations will respond to the labor supply of the North. And this leads to a demographic reduction in the South, thus worsening the current situation. This paper offers a detailed analysis of the phenomenon of the labor market’s turnover, marking the difference between northern and southern Italy, with a relative assessment and resolution of the problem.