L’irresistibile ascesa degli stage, e le sue conseguenze

Since the second half of the ’90s the policies adopted by the European Union within the education and vocational training field have been increasingly subjected to the requests of enterprises to train a skilled, adaptable and flexible labour force. These policies – necessary to maintain the competitiveness of the European capital at international level – have led to a real explosion of the internships phenomenon, especially after the beginning of the crisis in 2008. This paper examines European policies within educational and vocational training field that have favoured the spread of placements. Moreover, it shows how the internships have contributed to devalue the workforce as a whole through the dissemination of new forms of precariousness based on unpaid work.