Politiche delle "quote" ed etnicizzazione del mercato del lavoro italiano

The article deals with a very topical issue of the political agenda of almost all developed countries: the regulation of migratory flows for working reasons. In the first part, the Author makes a survey of the most recent trends of migration policies at international level. Then she focuses the attention on the Italian situation, describing the process of immigrants’ incorporation in the labour market, and emphasizing a phenomena of ethnicization of the labour relations. Even if the Italian adoption of a “quota system” of early entries for working reasons is in countertendency compared with the European situation, the Author underlines that a migration policy aimed at an effective management of the phenomena must get out of the research of short term advantage. On the contrary, if we want to escape the risk of economically precarious and socially turbulent choices, we must recognize the relationship between the role assigned to immigrant workers and some crucial questions concerning the future of the accumulation regime (such as the redefinition of the firms’ competitive strategies and the research of more advantageous equilibrium of productive and reproductive functions.