Does Labour market flexibility reduce youth unemployment in time of crisis? Evidence from Italian case

In Italy, as consequences of the recent economic crisis, the problem of unemployment has become central in the political debate. Scholars and policymakers have suggested the necessity of introducing flexibility measures in the labour market for improving employment performance, especially the youth one. The aim of this paper is to analyse empirically whether higher labour market flexibility was able to reduce youth unemployment in Italy during the period 2004-2014. Empirical results show that labour market flexibility had detrimental effects on youth unemployment. The results are confirmed also when a set of economic control variables were added to the model.