Job instability in the Italian labour market: is there an ethnic bias?

By using a unique dataset (AD-SILC) merging the longitudinal microlevel data from the National Institute of Social Security (INPS) with data collected by the EU harmonised survey labour market. More specifically, the paper explores the existence of structural differences in the way immigrant and native workers participate in the labour market taking into account: a) the type of contract (permanent versus fixed term); b) the duration of the contracts; c) the patterns of transition among different contractual arrangements; the overall long term level of stability of the work history trajectories. The evidence presented shows that the work histories of immigr of precariousness and fragility and in particular by a higher relevance of short-term contracts, a shorter average job duration, a higher difficulty of moving towards permanent and longlasting contracts.