Ristrutturazione produttiva e marginalizzazione dei lavoratori anziani nell'area torinese

The paper fits in the debate on the relationship between ageing and employment, by focusing attention on the mechanisms that control the way older workers get involved in the labour market in the region of Turin. The research focuses on the strategies of the institutions that manage the connection between the labour market and older workers' working conditions, giving particular attention to the workers of the manufacturing area. This paper argues that in the context considered the workers over 50 are involved in a process of marginalization. This process takes its roots from their early “expulsion” from the labour market: as a consequence, this process engenders social unrest due to the undetermined role of the “young elderly” out of the labour market. Moreover, this social unrest tends to turn progressively into economical unrest because of the gradual inefficacy of the mechanisms of workers passive protection and the lack of active policies. In this essay, we will first present the analysis of older workers' employment in the labour market of the region of Turin, mainly based on statistical data. Secondly, we will deal with the regulation of the local labour market referring to the employment of older workers, especially in terms of industrial relationships and local work policy. This second part is based on interviews with “privileged witnesses” that come within the framework of larger research about the ageing labour force, lead by the ICT&Society section, from the Istituto Superiore Mario Boella.