100 years of emigration from Basilicata: demographic and labour market consequences

During the 1990s, following 40 years of migration flows which profoundly modified the demographic structure, Basilicata today displays a different profile in many respects. During the 1940s, Rossi-Doria viewed emigration as the only realistic way of overcoming extreme poverty for the vast majority of the population. It is difficult to imagine what the alternatives might have been, but what we observe today is that migration flows have never come to a halt and, to some extent, the old problems of the region, above all from the point of view of employment, continue to remain, in different ways and with varying intensities. It is precisely this continuity which sustains the economic and social dualism between the Southern regions and those of the Centre-North, which in recent years has begun to grow again, giving rise to new concerns, above all due to the pro- gressive reduction in the funds obtained from the European Social Fund for the Southern regions that are losing their Objective 1 status (amongst which Basilicata) in order to support the countries of Central and Eastern Europe which have recently joined the Union.