Internship Blog #3

Blog Post #3

A little over one week ago, Italians went to the polls to vote for the party they wanted to control their government and lead their country. Among the issues most pressing on voters’ minds were jobs and the economy, as was true in the American and French elections of 2016 and 2017. The value placed on the principle of labor has been deeply embedded into Italian society ever since the inception of the modern republic of Italy. To this day, one can still sense the pride Italians take on reaping the crops of their land and running family owned businesses throughout the peninsula. However, with the dawn of globalization in the 1990s and the Great Recession of 2008, workers in Italy, and across the globe, have struggled to find stable jobs with decent wages. Likewise, governments of countries, such as the United States and Italy, have found it difficult to revitalize their economies. This has resulted in fewer jobs with little growth in wages and a deeply unsatisfied electorate in countries around the world, particularly Italy.

Since I am living and working overseas amid all this uncertainty and discussion of politics and economy, it is really interesting to compare how the concept of work is viewed in both countries. In Italy, the right to labor is an essential component of the Italian constitution. By contrast, the US Constitution has no mention that guarantees labor. As mentioned earlier, many Italians still either work or own their own small private businesses. In fact, Italy has the highest proportion of micro and small companies in Europe with 69% of their private sector  jobs belonging to these small enterprises. These companies account for 71% of the countries total GDP. By contrast, America’s “Mom & Pop” stores make up a 46% of the countries GDP. Aside from small businesses, Many young Italians aspire to work in public administration. This is because there is often job security, guaranteed benefits, and retirement plans. However, there is often nepotism deeply embedded in the public sector because of these benefits. In the US, there are very strict statutes that prevent the hiring and appointment of family members to federal employment opportunities and positions (With the exception of our current president appointing his daughter and son-in-law to high level positions in the White House).

Since I have been interning in a nonprofit setting at Oxfam Italia, I have learned that the state of politics and the economy are very important to how we run. As a nonprofit, we rely heavily on funding from national government as well as the European Union. This means that when the economy is not preforming well, the government cannot provide us as much funding. As economic uncertainty continues to fester in both Italy and the United States, sectors like the one I am interning in and aspire to work in face the threat of losing funding. Without governmental funding, there will be fewer programs to fulfill the mission and fewer jobs for people like me.