Il lavoro degli immigrati in Italia

Employment of Immigrants in Italy - This study examines statistical evidence on immigration from the lessdeveloped countries to Italy. Analysis focuses on the provenance of the immigrant workers and their destinations. Our estimates show that about 900,000 foreigners work on a regular basis in Italy, accounting for about 4.5 per cent of total employment. Most of these workers have work permits and their employers pay the relevant taxes and social insurance. Nevertheless the share of irregular workers is large. Foreign workers typically hold temporary or seasonal jobs. Foreign labour in Italy occupies market niches where there is a shortage of domestic labour supply, concentrating to an increasing extent in certain geographic areas. Immigrants tend to specialise in jobs that are unattractive to Italian workers: crop harvesting, heavy or dangerous jobs in livestock raising and industry, street peddling, unskilled positions in the services and domestic labour. Immigration therefore tends to offset local labour market imbalances, not global imbalances. Hence, foreign immigrants, or at least first generation immigrants, complement Italian labour.

Corrado Bonifazi, Salvatore Chiri, Il lavoro degli immigrati in Italia in "QA Rivista dell’Associazione Rossi-Doria" 1/2001, pp , DOI: