Italy's Employment Changes in the Nineties: a Comparison between Large Enterprise Areas and Industrial Districts

We examine the uneven employment changes in the Italian local labour systems (LLSs) in the 1990s. Using the 1991 and 2001 economic census data, we intend to compare the performance of different types of LLS, and particularly those of the industrial districts (IDs) and the large enterprise systems (LESs). The originality of the study lies in the territorial unit of analysis chosen: the 784 Italian LLSs. The analysed data show that, in the 1990s, the Italian IDs proved to be the country’s most dynamic local systems. Moreover, the shift-and-share analysis demonstrates that the local effect in the IDs was positive enough to more than compensate for the negative industry mix. Conversely, in the LESs the local effect was so negative as to determine a total negative effect, despite the positive industry mix. We conclude with an overview of the present situation and the corresponding policy implications.