The statistical surveys on unemployment in Italy since World War I (1914-2004)

di Manfredi Alberti
in Memoria e Ricerca n.s. 38 (2011), p. 111

During the period examined the statistical representation of unemployment has undergone the influence of both economic and social transformations and of the political and cultural choices of the social actors. Analysing the Italian case as an expression of some more general transformations typical of all other western countries, my article focuses on the characteristics of the official statistical sources on unemployment produced in Italy from 1914 to the present, analysing in particular their economic, political and cultural background. The transformations of the statistical category of “unemployed” is understood also in a gender perspective. Key words: History of statistics; Unemployment; Active population; Labour market; Gender studies; Convention of equivalence.