The Italian Association of Labour Economics (AIEL) was founded in Venice in July 1985 by a group of scholars including Renato Brunetta, Carlo Dell'Aringa, Paolo Garonna, Fabio Neri, Enrico Pugliese, Marina Schenkel, and Paola Villa. Carlo Dell’Aringa was the first president. The foundation of AIEL took place few months after the slaying of Ezio Tarantelli --economist and labour policy advisor-- by terrorists.

AIEL is a non-profit organization with the aim of promoting research and teaching in Labour Economics in Italy and elsewhere. The bodies of the Association are the members’ General Assembly, the Executive Board (which includes the President and the Secretary) and the Board of Auditors. The Executive Board is renewed every three years through elections among AIEL members. AIEL has more than 400 members located in several European countries and in the US. Membership is open to both individuals and institutions.

AIEL organizes an annual conference and research workshops. During the annual conference, the Ezio Tarantelli Annual Prize and the Carlo Dell’Aringa Young Economist Prize are awarded, respectively, to the authors of the best conference paper and of the best conference paper written by authors within five years since graduation from the PhD. Occasionally, AIEL awards the Ezio Tarantelli Career Prize to acknowledge long-standing contributions to Labour Economics. AIEL also teams up with the Italian Society of Public Economics (SIEP), the Centre for Household, Income, Labour and Demographic economics (CHILD – Collegio Carlo Alberto) and the Centre for Studies in Economics and Finance (CSEF) in awarding the Maria Concetta (Etta) Chiuri Prize for outstanding papers in Labour and Public Economics written by authors under the age of 40.