The phenomenon of multiple job-holding in Italy: Between recursion and transformation

Multiple job-holding represents not only a widespread working condition but also a particularly multifaceted phenomenon. Although it has drawn research attention from various disciplines over the last decades, a comprehensive understanding of its current articulation and its recent transformations is still lacking. Hence, in the light of the changing socio-economic scenario, the paper aims at identifying the structural characteristics of the contemporary forms of multiple job-holding in Italy. It does so through a mixed-methods approach: a quantitative analysis of ISTAT and EUROSTAT data, aimed at identifying the main profiles of the multiple job-holders, is complemented by a qualitative analysis conducted through 27 semi-structured interviews oriented to deepen the main determinants (push or pull factors) underlying the choice to carry out more than one job at the same time and the consequences in terms of individual enrichment or depletion. The empirical analysis points out the emergence of three clusters of contemporary multiple job-holders, each displaying peculiar traits. Overall, the paper offers a threefold contribution. First, it proposes a systematization of the broad debate on the variety of multiple job-holding, still fragmented and discontinuous. Second, it offers an analytical framework for investigating the complex phenomenon of multiple job-holding – lacking in the literature – based on the Italian experience but transferable also to other labour markets characterized by different regulatory and institutional configurations. Third, it updates the debate undertaken in Italy since the 1980s on the issue of multiple job-holding by investigating the specificities of contemporary forms of multiple employment in the light of the transformed socio-economic and regulatory scenario.