Italy Borrows From Mississippi With a Program to Help the Poor Find Work
The $7.7 billion project includes workers called navigators, who help with everything from résumé preparation to liaising with potential employers.
Anpal open examination to become a “navigator” at the Fiera di Roma on June 19, 2019.
Photographer: Paolo Tre/A3/Contrasto/ReduxLuigi Di Maio’s anti-establishment Five Star Movement won a surprising electoral victory in March 2018 after promising to give poor Italians a “citizens’ income” and a path into the workforce in a country with perennially high unemployment.
The €7 billion ($7.7 billion) program, aimed at people earning less than €9,300 a year, is under way with the help of 3,000 workers who act as both coaches and social workers. The navigators, as they’re known, have been hired, trained, and embedded in Italy’s often understaffed and underfunded network of 550 public job centers. They’re tasked with providing services ranging from résumé preparation to liaising with potential employers.