Short employment spells in Italy, Germany and the UK: testing the 'port of entry' hypothesis

This paper looks at short employment spells in three European countries: Great Britain, whose labour market is considered the most flexible in the EU; Italy, regarded as the least flexible; and Germany, tightly regulated, but characterised by a deservedly famous apprenticeship system. In particular, it aims to assess whether young people in short-lived jobs stand a better chance of finding a ''good job'' compared to their older colleagues. The increasingly held belief that - in modern economies - a ''bad job'' at the beginning of one''s career is the ''port-of-entry'' to stable employment and to upward mobility, makes this assessment particularly relevant; ie it matters greatly if short-duration jobs are entry ports into better employment or become long term-traps. The lack of accepted benchmarks makes it difficult to reach strong conclusions in regard to the ''efficiency'' of labour markets, however, this study should help to highlight the effect of different labour market institutions on mobility and on the soundness of the ''port-of-entry'' hypothesis.