The survey was carried out in December 1978 and led by three researchers, U. Colombino, F. Rondi, and myself. It was commissioned by the Regional Government of Piemonte. The main findings, along with a full description of the sampling methodology adopted, have been published in a book (Colombino, Gambetta & Rondi 1981); here I present a summary of that methodological description and a few further considerations concerning more specifically my own work.

The sample

The aim was that of having a sample representative of all those individuals aged 14–29 of both sexes who had registered in the special unemployment lists between 1 June 1977 and 12 June 1977 and who constituted the first large group of people to take advantage of the ‘285 Act’. We wanted to be able to assess what had happened to them in employment terms a year after they had started to look for a job. It was a cheap way of getting a sort of longitudinal survey where the only previous information available was that a year before the interview all subjects were unemployed and in search of a job.

Registration in the lists took place by communes, and since in Piemonte there are over a thousand communes it was not feasible to sample from all communal lists; this in fact would have meant actually visiting all the communes involved. A purposive p.s.u. of 28 communes was then selected, including Turin and its surrounding communes plus all chief towns of provinces and districts with more than 25,000 inhabitants. They included 64% – 18,774 in absolute terms – of the individuals of the original population of all communes.