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On the basis of a recent investigation,
in this contribution we will confront one of the "hottest" questions of the
current debate on immigration-programming the flow of immigration for work motives.
As is well known, the choice of the Italian legislator to explicitly plan each
year the number of entry visas for foreign workers has no equal in the current
European scene of migration policies (excepting Spain), and to find similar
procedures one must look overseas to Canada, Australia, and the United States.
Yet it is also obvious that the size of those nations and their specific
historical vicissitudes make their experiences very different from the Italian
one.
At the end of the 60s and the
beginning of the 70s, Central-Northern European countries began a stop policy that ended the possibility
of legal entry for work motives; a consequence of the crisis of those
industries which had previously asked for and utilized foreign labor (but in
many ways this was independent from the economic circumstance and had more
political than economic reasons). Legal entry for work motives remained
circumscribed in the following years to very special cases and it was not until
the early 90s that Germany re-opened the channel of guest workers by carefully defining
with the countries of origin agreements that exclude the renewal of contracts,
preclude family reunification and do not allow contracts to be open ended. The
policies of blockade still define the decision-making picture of the principal
European countries in matters of immigration and they have consolidated a sort
of "restrictive orthodoxy" based on the assumption that their economies no
longer need immigrant work.
After clarifying that, we must
note that this difference is more apparent than real since once we go back to
the empirical concrete phenomenon an analysis shows that worker immigration
continued during the period of formal closure of borders by using procedures
like those of political refugees, family reunification and by increasing
illegal/clandestine immigration. Besides, maybe because of the Italian example,
many European countries have taken up the theme of re-opening their borders to
foreign workers; Spain has adopted a law that is similar to ours, and France
and England have started to debate the issue. There are good reasons to believe
that in the next few years this theme will become one of the principal issues of the European debate on
immigration.
The present contribution proposes
in the first section a quick review of the principal policy trends that
regulate the participation of immigrants in the labor market on an
international level. In the second section we will review the processes that
define the characteristics of foreign participation in the Italian economy,
recalling the open perspectives of the new law on immigration. Finally, in the
third section we will illustrate the data gathered with the Excelsior
information system that relates to the professional needs for foreign labor.
3.2.4
The policy of programming entry quotas in the context of migration
policies on an international level.
If the securatisation of the
migration question is (as we have shown more than once in the ISMU Italian
Report on Migrations) the dominant trait of the current international scene it
is also clear that the fight against
illegal immigration effectively represents the leitmotiv of almost all legislations in matters of migration.
Although one cannot but recognize the ambiguities and contradictions inherent in
blockade policies, which seem oblivious to the need for foreign labor (which is
not merely circumstantial) that Western economies continue to demonstrate. The fight against
illegality primarily utilizes instruments such as the strengthening and
externalizing of border controls, and making expulsions effective, all aspects
that we have discussed in the 1999 and 2000 editions of the ISMU Italian Report
on Migrations. Nevertheless, we must also
remember other preventive measures such as the conclusion of bilateral
agreements with the countries of origin, the strengthening of international
cooperation (two measures that aim to lessen the pressure of illegal
migration), and above all the strengthening of control on job sites since the
fight against the informal/illegal economy can inhibit the principal factor of
attraction (and of "construction") of illegal immigration-the
possibility of finding a job independently from having a sojourn permit.
Finally, another measure is the use of periodic amnesties that "cancel" past
illegalities which is a practice used in many places outside the borders of our
country.
A second trend that recurs on the
international level is the introduction
of filters at the entry level which are not merely based on traditional
criteria (the country of origin having a privileged relationship with the
country of entry or the fact of having relatives who are prior immigrants) but
also based on the possession of professional qualifications and credentials.
The reasons for this choice are many, it tries to satisfy the needs of the
economic system (for example the demand for personnel with information system
qualifications is very generalized) but it also wants to stimulate the arrival
of subjects with a "high potential" whom, it is supposed, will contribute to
the national economy independently from the actual "open" job positions. In
this perspective for example, the immigration of business men and entreprenuers
is pushed. It is interesting to note that in certain cases the objective of
this expectation is even more "sophisticated", it attempts to prevent the
phenomena of an ethnicization of the job market (considered not only
disadvantageous for ethnic minorities but also dysfunctional for both the
economy and society of the host country) by selecting subjects who can
legitimately aspire to an non-subalternate inclusion. One can note an
integration between this filter and the traditional ones. In Canada for
example, a pilot project begun in 1998 attempts to push family reunification
for those foreign workers who have a high qualification and even potential
refugees are chosen based on their professional profile.
A third tendency is to push for temporary immigration. Generally
this choice is justified with seasonal needs (such as agricultural work or
tourism) or temporary work (the realization of large construction sites) or the
need to fill a circumstantial lack of balance in the job market. Yet we cannot
deny the objective of preventing those problems that come with the settling of
immigrant populations (the German experience is an example of this which has
already been mentioned). The temporariness of this presence concurs with the
proliferation of programs meant to increase the circulation of professional elites
and young people who are studying (to cite one of the most widely recognized,
the Erasmus program).
The regulation of immigration for family and humanitarian reasons constitutes
a fourth trend that can be noted internationally and particularly on the
European level. As we noted above, the advent of restrictive policies in matters
of immigration for work has allowed for an increase in entries based on
reunification and humanitarian protection, entries that translate in an unplanned
growth in job supply. This is a phenomena which in many ways cannot be
controlled by governments, and as it has been pointed out it represents one of
the costs which democratic societies pay for maintaining the values that they
are based on. It is the
regime of embedded liberalism which
composes their juridical framework that constitutes the major offence against
the restrictive orthodoxy of which we spoke,
and not a technical or political incapacity in controlling the flow of
migration. Nevertheless, various countries tend to control the phenomena with
solutions such as the stiffening of requirements for family reunification
(increasing financial guarantees, limiting family members who can request
reunification, and the denial of this right to temporary migrants) and for the
recognition of the right to humanitarian protection (the most important example
of this is the Dublin convention with which the governments of European Union
have established the impossibility of re-presenting a request that has already
been turned down by a member country but in general they have tried to render
the process faster). Another series of measures aims to circumscribe the
possibility of access to the job market by limiting the possibility on the
basis of the status which regulates the sojourn, to the length of the sojourn,
to the type of sojourn permit that a foreigner who requests family
reunification possesses and so on. The choice of excluding from work
possibilities those categories of foreigners is meant to prevent an improper
use of entry procedures for family motives and above all humanitarian ones. It
is also meant to protect aucthotonous workers from foreign competition yet it
brings consequences such as the growth of illegal work ("in nero") and a burden
to the State treasury of maintaining (even for many months) asylum seekers who
are not allowed to work and in the case of a refusal it is very difficult to
deport a subject (often a family) who is regularly working. Several countries
have started programs, for those who in a certain period had humanitarian
protection, that are an incentive to return home once the reasons for this
status have disappeared. Similar projects are those initiatives which support
the social and professional placement of second generation immigrants; these
initiatives not only have the objective of promoting equal opportunity policy,
but also that of fighting unemployment situations that ethnic minorities must
confront almost everywhere in worse conditions than the local workers.
In any case, the promotion
of equal opportunity means paying more attention to the policies applied to
first generation immigrants (and the following generations) since awareness has
grown that the discrimination of which they are victims is not merely a morally
deplorable phenomena, (which is also contrary to the constitutions of the
various countries) but also a cause of brain
wasting and therefore a factor that places in jeopardy the correct
functioning of the labor market by increasing segmentation. As we have noted
before, besides trying to contain the risks of exclusion and social marginality
these policies aim to enhance the value and potential that immigration is able
to express, especially of those immigrants who have professional
qualifications. In certain cases, the objectives that inspire these policies
are those of preventing union problems due to the phenomena of "unfair
competition" induced by the presence of labor that is adaptable and cheap. In
other cases it combats the beginning of the ethnicization of certain jobs which
ends up strengthening the resistance of the most marginal groups of local labor
in accepting those same jobs. The objective of promoting better chances for
immigrants by the reporting of discriminatory practices is, in many ways,
connected to the fight against racism and xenophobia. Several countries have
started campaigns to sensitize public opinion, invested resources in monitoring
attitudes toward immigrants, in analyses of discriminatory phenomenon, and in
the training and re-qualification of those who work in employment offices (this
also comes from the example of interventions from supranational institutions
such as the European Union).
Finally, another trend of
international migration policies has been to recognize the relationship between economic inclusion and social
integration. This means to ascertain (as we will do when we analyse the
Italian case) how it is an illusion to think that the policies which regulate
the participation of immigrants in the labor market, such as the one on entry
quotas, can leave out parallel actions that project and implement social
integration, beginning with housing integration but not only that. This means
not only for new comers, but also for
the second and following generations. In the case of France for example, once
the limits of the assimilationist approach had become clear what stood out was
that the descendents of immigrant families (even when French citizens) found
themselves with a mass of accumulated disadvantages which derived not only from
their ethnic origins, but also from the condition of housing segregation that
many of them were born and grew up in (the banlieuses
of the major cities, also called areas of risk) and sometimes by unsuccessful
school experiences. If the
variables to be considered are multiple then the problems that need to be
confronted are very complex, and in a final analysis they call into question
the entire working order of the host society. From this recognition, government
authorities in various countries, both local and national, have promoted
actions that train and sensitize, and developed interventions to prevent
neglect (for example in school settings) urged on by the diffusion of so-called
best practices.
By putting together these trends,
which in some way represent the answers to the problems and opportunities that
migration phenomenon pose on an international level, we can define the horizon
in which it is possible to single out the multiple objectives of a policy that
programs entry quotas. The latter, while it is formally finalized to satisfy
the needs of the economic system (and of families since a large quota of
immigration finds work with them) is at the same time "condemned" to keep track
of a whole series of restrictions: first of all the requirement to contain the
pressure of illegal migration by making the legal channel more advantageous;
the requirement to respect established constitutional principles, sealed by
international agreements
that concern the possibility for the migrant to be reunited with family members
and humanitarian protection, and the fact that the countries of the European
Union must harmonize their laws and regulations with that of the other member
States and with EU directives (this is an aspect which still needs to be
clarified but it cannot be excluded that in the future Italy will have to
change its national regulations in this matter). Further regulations that are
less pressing in the immediate situation but which must, or should, constitute
points that need to be taken care of in the medium and long term are
represented by the opportunity of strengthening regional economic integration
and international cooperation with the countries of origin and the opportunity
to prevent as much as possible the ethnicization of work relations. Finally, as
we already emphasized, no programming policy on entry quotas can evade the need
to sustain the complicated process of integrating immigrant workers into the
social web of the host society, with a view toward their professional
promotion.
3.2.2
Characteristics
of immigrant participation in the Italian labor market and the prospects opened
up by the unified law on immigration
The
characteristics of immigrant participation in the Italian labor market are now
sufficiently well known and the subject of thorough studies in the various
editions of ISMU Italian Report. In this paper we will limit ourselves to
examining a series of processes that are immediately pertinent to the question
of programming new entries.
The first process is that of a demographic exchange in that part of the
population which is working age, with which we mean the compensation function
of the decrease in the Italian population determined by natural movements;
which must both maintain the volume of productive forces on an adequate level
to sustain labor demand and also sustain the contributive (tax) system. Indeed
the senario outlined by demographers defines an insidious arena of debate.
To those who fear that immigration (especially in the context of a demographic
decrease in population) entails the irreversible modification of a people's
hereditory characteristics are opposed those who (on a different but equally
critical position) denounce the exquisitely instrumental vision of the
phenomena that lies behind similar representations. As regards the objectives
of this present reflexion we will limit ourselves to observing how often,
especially in the regions that associate a dynamic economic situation with a
rapidly aging population, after those jobs that locals refuse to fill, the
foreign presence appears to be clearly destined to fulfill a structural
function by substituting workmen who arrive at retirement age. Although up to
this point the process of demographic exchange has turned out to be an
ethnicization of labor relations (a phenomena which we will return to later),
the forecast data illustrates a clear tendency for foreign workers to spread
out into the different production sectors, mainly in those areas of the country
in which the stabilization process is more advanced.
A second
process concerns the territorial
diversification of job hiring conditions which is justified by the chronic
North/South dualism that characterizes the national economy but also by the
less severe but still unbalanced situations that can be seen on a sub-regional
level. The spatial distribution of the hirings of foreign and immigrant workers
by firms represents the most eloquent indicator of the phenomena which we are
interested in, a phenomena confirmed, as we shall see later, by the same data
relative to expected future hirings. Many authors have also observed that it is
possible to identify different territorial models of immigrant inclusion. If it
is true that among the various dimensions of integration there is no
deterministic and unilinear relation, then it is also true that the hiring
conditions of the job market tend to go along with recurring situations from
the point of view of social integration, creating configurations that are in
many ways ideal. The local society approach seems to be essential both for
describing the inclusion processes of the new
comers into Italian society, and also for examining the mechanisms that regulate
living together harmoniously and what promotional actions need be taken to
achieve this. What is at stake here is not only the question of the allocation
of jurisdiction and resources, (for example, the regions demanding their right
to legislate both quantity and composition of the new immigration) but also an
awareness of the deep inter-relations that exist between the productive sphere
and the social reproductive sphere, as immigration demonstrates.
A third aspect concerns precisely
the inter-relation between these two
spheres, that of inclusion in the productive system and integration into
the social web. An effective formula coined in the beginning of the 90s spoke
of the difference between "an economic citizenship" and "a social citizenship".
The first was substantially reached (even if it remained invisible) while the
second was still missing. The following reflexion has not ceased to reveal the
risk of a discontinuity between the various dimensions of inclusion, a risk
which indisputably grows stronger in the post-fordist economic scene, caused by
the weakening of all the traditional integration agencies. Job hiring remains
the best road for integration but by itself it is not sufficient to guarantee
the stability of immigrant populations and above all it cannot remove
inter-ethnic conflict-not even when the presence of immigrants is clearly
required by the economic system. Concerning our theme, this means that professional
job hiring alone cannot consititute the only horizon for programming entry
policies since what is needed is a wider integration into society, in all its
various local specifics. This is the wise trend that the European Union has
taken recently on the theme of work policies for immigrants. As for the Italian
situation, it is well known that the housing problem is the main stumbling
block in the path of immigrants entering the social web. Even if this is a
national problem it is still within the most economically dynamic local
societies which use foreign labor that it becomes a crucial point concerning
the results of inter-ethnic co-habitation. These aspects have been examined in
various editions of the ISMU Italian Report and they emphasize how the marginality
of foreigners in the housing market consitutes a substantial component of an
inclusionary model shared by the host society, which resolutely balks at taking
up a perspective of equality concerning access to opportunites and social
rewards.
The fourth process we wish to
point out is consistent with this model of subordinate inclusion, the ethnicization of the job market, which in Italy, as elsewhere, constitutes
one of the most significant components of job market segmentation. To this, and
the correlated phenomenon of discrimination and disqualification of foreign
labor, we have dedicated a paper in the 1999 edition of the Italian Report on
Migrations. We however
want to underline how the ethnicization of labor relations is in a certain
sense the other face of the complementarity that has allowed the hiring of
thousands of immigrants in an economy, the Italian one, that has not been
spared from unemployment problems. As we illustrated earlier, this is not only
due to the progresive thinning out of the active part of the population, a
joint effect of birth rates and length of schooling, but above all with the
phenomena of the selectivity of autochthonous job supply. The latter, as a
large series of analyses show, seems to be less malleable regarding the
selection of job offers which instead is very widespread among first generation
immigrants. This is valid even in the Southern regions that have high levels of
unemployment in which job seekers, especially the young, appear determined to
find a job in the primary labor market The most visible sign of the
ethnicization of labor concerns the work segregation of immigrant labor in
certain jobs and sectors of the economic system (sectorial segregation would
seem to be lessened in forecasts), phenomenon which strongly affects the female
component of immigrant job supply. As we have already described in an other
paper,
what helps this is not only the composition of the demand but also the strategies
of job supply, shaped by ethnic networks and other informal channels which
increase the risk of exposure to discrimination in both entry and career since
they do not utilize universal procedures based on certifying aptitude and
competency.
Discrimination phenomenon which we just referred to, shows up in
different ways: as discrimination at the entry level, discrimination in working
conditions, and discrimination in the career path. For the treatment of these subjects
we refer readers to our paper on this matter.
The same thing concerns the disqualification
of educated foreign labor, which is one of the most visible demonstrations
of discrimination. The aspect which merits examing and underlining is how the
trend in programming new entry quotas can contribute in increasing this
phenomena in the proportion in which it aims to satisfy the unfulfilled needs
of our labor market relating to low profile jobs and seasonal activities. This
is an apparently opposite trend to the widespread international strategy that
is based (as we noted earlier) on the selection of labor with a high potential
even when regulating family reunification or humanitarian entries. Since
obviously the quota policy cannot avoid the need to respond to the demands of
the economic system, it seems that attention should be placed not on a
generalized introduction of filters which award higher professional
qualifications (notwithstanding the timid openings contained in the 2001 decree
in favor of the entry of qualified workers) but on possible paths to professional mobility for foreigners who are already in
the labor market. These paths could also follow that of becoming entrepreneurs
by helping a propensity which is widespread among immigrant populations. What
however needs to be strictly controlled is the risk that the push toward
independent work (confirmed by the new decree on flows which raised last years
quota) hides a strategy of unloading on immigrant workers the risk of new
enterprises, forcing them to work independently instead of hiring them. In
general terms, the selection of emigrant candidates should occur by valorizing
their knowledge and professional competencies, along with their availability to
invest in their own professional development.
Finally, we must mention that
process which certain scholars define as the
social construction of illegality.
While work has always constituted the primary motivation for foreigners in our
country (it is still at the top of the list of reasons for sojourn permits
although the increase in family reunifications has augmented permits for family
motives) for a long time the legislative scene has been an obstacle for legal
entries for work. In addition, the underground or illegal economy is widespread
in our country, especially in the South (where it represents about a fourth of
employment) but also in the North. There are particular concentrations in
certain sectors which have a high percentage of immigrants such as,
construction, industrial cleaning, restaurant work, domestic labor, and
artisanal sub-order companies (besides Mediterranean agriculture and street
vending); all these sectors have favored the absorption of immigrants. On the
basis of available estimates from the 1990s the quota of immigrants illegally
working has never been lower than 31%, more than double of that of locals.
Paradoxically the legalization (having a sojourn permit) of the immigrant
presence risks becoming counterproductive when it comes to finding an illegal
job since an illegal foreigner is more vulnerable and as such appears more
attractive to an employer who is outside of the law. Therefore we must observe
how with time the illegal jobs of immigrants have become more similar to that
of Italians, since the number of those who work illegally ("in nero") has
increased even if they could have a regular job since they have a sojourn permit
for work, and the number of those who have to work illegally because they are
without permits has diminished-a circimstance that confirms the strong
absorbent ability of the underground economy.
The processes that we have
referred to outline an inclusionary model for immigrants which is certainly
more consistent with the expectations of the Italian population then it is with
that of immigrant workers-especially those who are young and educated. As we
have noted, for certain aspects the policy of programming new entry quotas
would seem to be destined to upholding and strengthening the current trends,
especially where it singles out the complementarity between autochthonous and
immigrant supply as the principle which inspires the policy of defining quotas.
Which is like saying that immigrants must continue to work only in those jobs
that Italians refuse or are not enough to fill, regardless of their
competencies or credentials. However for other aspects the scene outlined by
the unified law on immigration prefigures
the possibility of an evolution by opening up the opportunity of legal
entry also for work motives. It establishes the obligation for employers and
sponsors to find suitable housing solutions and to single out useful paths for
valorizing and promoting immigrant professionality. This last objective comes
from the so-called "second generation agreements" that are being defined by
different emigration countries in which the emphasis is on the quality of job offers which this
interrupts the hegemony of the necessary quantity
of work.
These aspects are within the wake of a conspicuous series of
bilateral agreements, from 1997 onwards fifteen agreements of readmission have
been put in force and six others have been signed while negotiations with seven
countries has begun and contacts taken with another five. "To give full validity
to this agreement" can be read in the in the draft of the programming Document
for the period of 2001-2003, " real packages of measures have been put together
that can include in certain cases, direct assistance, development cooperation,
but also privileged quotas of worker immigration". The bilateral agreements are
placed at the crossing of two fundamental dimensions implicated in the policy
of programming entry quotas, the economic and the political, and they
"crystallize" the objectives, worries, and ties of this policy.
3.2.4
The needs of
Italian companies
The Excelsior Information System, promoted by
Unioncamere in collaboration with the Minister of Labor and the European Union,
each year conducts a survey on the professional needs of Italian companies.
Having arrived at the third edition relating to the two year period of
1999-2000 it has forecast for the first time, with a specific thoroughness, the
hiring of personnel from countries outside the European Union.
It is precisely this which we
will discuss in this chapter, limiting ourselves however to recalling the most
significant data. In many
aspects the trends that are reported by companies confirm the territorial
diversification of the hiring paths of immigrants in our labor market and also
its growing ethnicization. Yet the data however offers unexpected or
counter-intuitive indications, prefiguring a progressive widening of the
environments of job entry for foreign labor and also a consistent propensity to
use this labor shared even by Southern companies. The survey reports, in
reference to the two year period of 1999-2000, 818,000 new hirings and among
these only 28% were subsitutions of retiring workers-data that expresses a
tendency to renew the stock of employees. More than one hiring in three (34.6%)
concerns workers that are considered difficult to find. It is above all exactly
for this motive, the difficulty of recruiting which concerns certain positions,
that a small number of companies (almost 7% or ¼ of companies which hire)
declare themselves willing to use of foreign labor. The need for personnel
coming from countries outside the European Union is estimated in 200,589 units,
representing less than a ¼ of the total hirings. The data speaks by itself and
it is eloquent as far as the structural need for foreign labor which
characterizes the system of Italian companies; recalling that normally the
recourse to immigrant labor is done only when it has been verified that there
is a difficulty in finding Italian personnel. This number would certainly be
higher if we consider the requests for foreign labor in seasonal jobs and we
must recall the pressure that exists in this sense which is testifyed to by the
requests for specific quotas. In this way we must remember that the
observations do not cover the demand expressed by families that consist in
another increase in numbers.
The propensity to utilize foreign labor is evidently associated
with the occupational situations of the different areas of the country [cfr.
Table 1], it arrives at 34.8% (more than one hiring in three!) in the case of
rich and dynamic regions of the North East (77, 947 hirings of foreigners). But
it is without a doubt remarkable in the Center (22.2%), the North West (20.8%),
and even in the South and Islands (19%) notwithstanding the chronic lack of
employment in these last areas. A true mirror of the characteristics of the
host society, immigration uncovers the "voluntary" nature of autochthonous unemployment
and the evident mismatch between
demand and supply of labor. It also reflects
the specificity of the economic system of the different areas in the national
territory both by sector and by that of the average size of companies. More
than 60% of foreign workers is destined to work in companies that have up to 50
employees. In the majority of cases hiring is not subordinated to the requirement
of experience but to that of age. More than a 1/3 of companies believe that
they need to train their workers, an important point that indicates a
propensity to confer stability to the working relationship even if the average
value synthesizes different situations in various professions.
|
Tab.1 - Forecast of hirings for
the period 1999-2000 of personnel coming from non-European countries, by
region.
|
|
Regions
|
Hirings 1999-2000
A.V. *
|
Hirings 1999-2000
% of total
|
Companies that
have fewer than 50
employees
|
|
|
16,176
|
21,9
|
48.4
|
|
Valle d'Aosta
|
635
|
27,1
|
79.1
|
|
Lombardy
|
36,301
|
20,5
|
54.2
|
|
|
3,759
|
19.1
|
60.3
|
Total North West
|
56,871
|
20.8
|
53.3
|
|
Trentino Alto Adige
|
6,849
|
36.4
|
63.5
|
|
Veneto
|
30,781
|
34.6
|
62.6
|
|
Friuli Venezia Giulia
|
8,217
|
35.1
|
60.4
|
|
Emilia Romagna
|
32,100
|
34.6
|
52.4
|
|
Total North East
|
77,947
|
34.8
|
58.2
|
|
|
12,239
|
23.3
|
74.8
|
|
|
2,869
|
25.8
|
76.3
|
|
The Marches
|
5,981
|
24.3
|
74.2
|
|
Lazio
|
12,040
|
19.7
|
61.3
|
|
Total
Center
|
33,129
|
22.2
|
69.9
|
|
|
3,190
|
17.6
|
78.1
|
|
Molise
|
820
|
25.9
|
91.5
|
|
|
7,981
|
18.1
|
79.6
|
|
Puglia
|
5,983
|
17.5
|
75.4
|
|
Basilicata
|
1,533
|
22.6
|
82.5
|
|
Calabria
|
3,102
|
23.2
|
91.3
|
|
Sicily
|
6,691
|
19.0
|
82.5
|
|
Sardinia
|
3,342
|
20.2
|
78.6
|
|
Total South/Islands Isole
|
32,642
|
19.0
|
80.7
|
|
Total Italy
|
200.589
|
24.5
|
62,4
|
|
* The absolute value
reported above should be understood as a potential number of hirings of
non-European determined on the basis of indications from companies that are
willing to to hire this personnel.
|
|
Tab.2 - Forecast hirings in the two year period
1999-2000 of personnel coming from non-European countries, by activity
sectors.
|
|
|
|
Hirings
1999-2000
|
Of which
|
|
|
|
A. V..*
|
% of total
|
Companies
> 50
Employees.
|
With experience
|
Without
experience
|
With the need for
job training
|
Less than < 25 yrs old
|
Industry
|
113,580
|
28.4
|
73,4
|
50,0
|
50,0
|
33,2
|
33,2
|
|
|
Mining
|
632
|
29.5
|
81.6
|
64.7
|
35.3
|
22.2
|
22.3
|
|
|
Food, drink and tobacco
industries
|
4,671
|
20.6
|
65.6
|
34.2
|
65.8
|
3.8
|
40.5
|
|
|
|
10,070
|
30.1
|
68.6
|
50.5
|
49.5
|
39.5
|
33.0
|
|
|
Leather, skins and shoe
industries
|
3,686
|
32.7
|
72.8
|
51.1
|
48.9
|
29.7
|
34.4
|
|
|
Wood and wood product
industries (excluding furniture)
|
3,185
|
33.6
|
87.8
|
47.3
|
52.7
|
33.4
|
37.1
|
|
|
Paper, and printing
industries
|
1,699
|
14.1
|
58.9
|
31.4
|
68.6
|
44.7
|
|
|
|
Coal and petroleum
industries
|
59
|
7.5
|
42.4
|
35.6
|
64.4
|
27.1
|
--
|
|
|
Chemical and synthetic
industries
|
1,933
|
14.9
|
29.4
|
27.2
|
72.8
|
44.6
|
33.7
|
|
|
Rubber
and plastic industries
|
3,953
|
31.7
|
59.7
|
24.8
|
75.2
|
43.2
|
39.5
|
|
|
Mineral
industries (non metal)
|
4,066
|
26.4
|
63.1
|
40.9
|
59.1
|
36.3
|
37.0
|
|
|
Metal industries
|
14,140
|
25.2
|
68.8
|
44.1
|
55.9
|
41.9
|
38.2
|
|
|
Mecchanical
industries and transportation
|
11,892
|
22.7
|
46.2
|
47.0
|
53.0
|
49.3
|
36.7
|
|
|
Eletrical and electronic industries
|
5,646
|
19.3
|
54.1
|
34.2
|
65.8
|
47.4
|
51.8
|
|
|
Other manufacturing
industries
|
5,189
|
28.4
|
75.7
|
46.1
|
53.9
|
35.7
|
38.8
|
|
|
Energy, gas and water
|
715
|
14.6
|
14.8
|
58.7
|
41.3
|
24.1
|
16.9
|
|
|
Construction
|
42,044
|
39.8
|
91.6
|
61.8
|
38.2
|
19.7
|
25.4
|
|
|
Hirings
1999-2000
|
Of which:
|
|
|
A.V.
|
% of
total
|
Companies > 50
employees
|
with
experience
|
Without
experience
|
With the
Need for
Job training
|
With < 25 years of age
|
|
Services
|
87,009
|
20.8
|
48.1
|
40.2
|
59.8
|
38.8
|
27.0
|
|
|
Wholesale and retail trade
and repairs
|
21,686
|
16.7
|
62.6
|
44.4
|
55.6
|
39.1
|
40.1
|
|
|
Hotels, tourism villages,
restaurants, bars and cafeterias
|
13,280
|
29.1
|
70.2
|
49.4
|
50.6
|
28.3
|
37.6
|
|
|
Transportation,travel
agencies, mailand telecommunications
|
10,082
|
18.5
|
34.4
|
40.6
|
59.4
|
30.3
|
20.7
|
|
|
Credit and financial
attivities
|
526
|
3.3
|
17.9
|
28.3
|
71.7
|
66.3
|
33.5
|
|
|
Insurance
|
209
|
3.1
|
46.9
|
34.9
|
65.1
|
74.2
|
40.2
|
|
|
Advanced services for
companies
|
3,236
|
7.5
|
57.6
|
55.3
|
44.7
|
50.3
|
29.4
|
|
|
Operational services for
companies
|
21,560
|
44.1
|
23.7
|
23.9
|
76.1
|
46.9
|
12.9
|
|
|
Other services for companies
|
1,591
|
13.3
|
72.6
|
27.1
|
72.9
|
28.8
|
32.2
|
|
|
Personal services
|
6,177
|
25.3
|
65.8
|
38.5
|
61.5
|
32.1
|
36.6
|
|
|
Instruction and private
training services
|
665
|
13.0
|
81.5
|
35.0
|
65.0
|
21.5
|
16.2
|
|
|
Health and private health
services
|
7,001
|
30.8
|
22.3
|
58.0
|
42.0
|
49.8
|
9.7
|
|
|
Professional offices
|
996
|
11.0
|
100.0
|
39.0
|
61.0
|
18.4
|
22.4
|
|
Totals
|
200,589
|
24.5
|
62.4
|
45.7
|
54.3
|
35.6
|
30.6
|
|
|
*
the absolute value reported above is intended as the potential number of
hirings of personnel from non-European countries determined by the
indications of companies willing to hire this personnel.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Let us now examine the sectorial
distribution of forecasted hirings.It must be noted however that the breaking
up of data by sectors presents a greater articulation than that which the INPS
data relating to immigrants hired by companies would have us suppose, although
a certain trend in job segregation is confirmed. As far as industry goes what
is striking is the datum relating to construction, over 42,000 forcasted
hirings, equal to 40% of the total-an eloquent confirmation of the dynamism of
this sector. Yet it illustrates even more the difficulty of finding
autochthonous labor to substitute workmen who reach retirement age. In over 90%
of cases, construction hirings are concentrated in companies with less than 50
employees and 60% of the new hirings need to have prior experience. The scene
prefigures the growing ethnicization of a sector that, because of its hard
working conditions, young Italians tend to refuse to enter (even those without
education or credentials). The heaviness of tasks, a mobility caused by the
shift in building sites, the exposure to weather conditions, the relative
insecurity of work, all these are factors which alienate young Italians and
make it difficult to recruit for almost all of the various professions involved
in construction. The metallurgical and mechanical sectors also have difficulty
in finding workers. By adding together the industries which work metal with
those mechanical ones, plus transportation, we arrive at 26,000 new hirings.
Many surveys which are conducted on a local level demonstrate a refusal toward
"factory work" by the younger generation, a refusal that particularly penalizes
metallurgical/mechanical companies, one of the most important sectors of the
Italian industrial system. Indeed the
percentage of foreign hirings in total is lower than the average yet there is
reason to believe that the new comers
are prevalently directed toward those
productive units that are involved with the heaviest aspects of the process,
that have continuous working cycles, and which do not use lots of labor saving technology. These
characteristics which concern metal industries are superimposed on the small
size of these companies that however hire almost 70% of all hirings in the
sector. The most innovative companies offer instead working conditions and
career perspectives that are more advantageous than the collective imagination
believes. Many companies and associations are creating promotional projects
directed at young people and families, hoping that the difficulty in
recruiting, (especially professional positions) can be lessened. Moreover the
hiring of non Europeans in this sector is consolidated in the majority of local
economic systems and all indications point to a future increase. An important
condition however seems to be constituted by greater investments in professional
training. The companies of this sector declare difficulties in finding the
workers which they need (greater even then that of the construction sector) but
these difficulties are mainly attributable to a lack of training and qualification.
A small size is prevalent among textile and clothing industries that total over
10,000 hirings, like the leather and shoe industries and the wood industries.
These last three sectors register difficulty in recruiting for more than 40% of
their new hirings and this number rises to 49.6% in the wood industries. As
regards the above considerations that relate to sectorial segregation this data
points out a decided trend to the widespreadness of the foreign presence in all
the industrial sectors. A trend that is very pronounced in certain regions and
which could be seen as bringing possible new opportunities for immigrant women
workers who now are stuck in very circumscribed parts of the labor market
If we now consider the service sector,
two sectors totalize almost half the hirings: 1. Wholesale trade, retail trade
and repairs, 2. Operational services for companies. While the hirings relating
to the sector of operational services do not often require any experience
(since for the majority this is cleaning personnel), in the case of trade
experience is required by more than 44% of the companies. The forecast hirings
in the restaurant sector, transportation, health services, and personal
services are consistent. As we have already noted we must remember that the
Excelsior information system does not reveal the needs of families regarding
personal services, a circumstance which would increase the weight of these
sectors. In general, the data seem to confirm the trends in ethnicization which
we have constantly referred to, and that finds correspondence in an analysis of
the single professions.
The data relating to groups and
professions constitutes a confirmation of the difficulties which companies have
in finding a whole series of positions which correspond to jobs that have
uncomfortable working conditions or which are seen to possess little or no
prestige in the social hierarchy associated with various professions. In the
eight categories of the survey, four are significantly concerned with the entry
of foreign labor. In order these are: a) Non qualified personnel, in which over
half the hirings are non Europeans with little difference between the different
positions of the group, b) Plant operators, fixed and mobile machine operators,
assembly line workers, here the hirings of foreigners represents a third of the
total with higher points in certain positions, c) Professions relating to sales
and services to families, but in this case the average value, 30%, hides great
internal differences, d) Specialized workers, this group once again comprises
positions that tend to be filled by imported labor.
Let us now consider the single
professional positions. What is striking is the fact that for different
positions over half the forecast hirings concerns non Europeans. These are in
order: auxiliary cleaning services (56.7%),
construction workers (55.8%), general laborers (55.1%), bricklayers
(52.7%) electricians (51.4%), ecological workers in garbage collection (51.3%),
and construction carpenters (50%). As
we can see in Table 3, many other positions present a high incidence of the
total hirings. Certain data seem to prefigure an ethnicization trend in certain
jobs, this is the case with cleaning personnel, ecological workers, and general
laborers. After all, international experience demonstrates how these
professions tend to become those of ethnic minorities. Once that the
ethnicization process has begun it tends to strengthen itself since it
increases the refusal of autochthonous workers toward those jobs that are
labelled "menial jobs". In certain ways this refusal is also shared by second
generation immigrants who prefer an instable work situation to one that is seen
as socially belittling. In other cases, the data reveals such great difficulties
in recruiting that it forces the companies to widen their recruiting reservoir
by utilizing a labor force that is seen as more adaptable or in some cases has
a specific professionality (this is the case with nurses and health care
workers) that is lower in the autochthonous supply than the demand. These
recruiting difficulties mainly concern three professional positions: a) Qualified
workers or technicians, especially concerning the construction and metallurgical/mechanical
sectors (bricklayers, carpenters, electricians, plumbers, lathe operators,
machine operators, etc.), b) Personnel who assist people (nurses, health care
workers), c) Jobs that have "non-typical" work hours (security personnel,
longshoremen, warehousemen, etc.).
|
Tab. 3 - Forecast hirings in the two year period,
1999-2000 of personnel coming from non-European countries, for professional
groups and positions, percentage values.
|
|
Hirings
1999-2000
|
Of which:
|
|
A.V.
|
% of
total
|
Companies with > 50
employees
|
With
experience
|
Without
experience
|
With the need
For training
|
With < 25 years of age
|
|
1. Managers and Directors
|
--
|
--
|
--
|
--
|
--
|
--
|
--
|
|
2. Intellectual and scientific professions with a high level of
specialization
|
1,563
|
4.5
|
45.5
|
62.1
|
37.9
|
57.3
|
14.3
|
|
3. Technical professions
|
5,676
|
4.7
|
33.9
|
55.5
|
44.5
|
52.1
|
22.3
|
|
Nurses
|
1,238
|
34.6
|
12.8
|
63.8
|
36.2
|
43.9
|
7.5
|
|
General book-keeping
|
293
|
2.6
|
82.3
|
72.7
|
27.3
|
20.1
|
14.3
|
|
Computer Programmers
|
265
|
5.8
|
56.6
|
41.1
|
58.9
|
58.1
|
|
|
Accountants
|
230
|
6.9
|
46.1
|
20.0
|
80.0
|
57.8
|
30.0
|
|
Technical assistance to
clients
|
219
|
6.1
|
31.1
|
29.7
|
70.3
|
54.3
|
17.4
|
|
Salesmen/women
|
165
|
3.9
|
33.9
|
33.3
|
66.7
|
60.0
|
26.1
|
|
Other professions
|
3,266
|
3.6
|
35.1
|
57.3
|
42.7
|
56.7
|
26.9
|
|
Education and private
training services
|
665
|
13.0
|
81.5
|
35.0
|
65.0
|
21.5
|
16.2
|
|
Private health care services
|
7,001
|
30.8
|
22.3
|
58.0
|
42.0
|
49.8
|
9.7
|
|
Professional services
|
996
|
11.0
|
100.0
|
39.0
|
61.0
|
18.4
|
22.4
|
Totals
|
200,589
|
24.5
|
62.4
|
45.7
|
54.3
|
35.6
|
30.6
|
|
4. Executive professions realating to administration and operations
|
6,318
|
7,.
|
59.3
|
37.9
|
62.1
|
35.9
|
39.8
|
|
Warehousemen
|
2,333
|
15.4
|
59.5
|
34.5
|
65.5
|
30.2
|
37.8
|
|
Administrative workers
|
1,424
|
4.7
|
59.6
|
50.4
|
49.6
|
37.0
|
23.2
|
|
Secretaries
|
638
|
4,.8
|
92.6
|
37.9
|
62.1
|
33.2
|
48.4
|
|
Hirings
1999-2000
|
Of which:
|
|
A.V.
|
% of
totals
|
Companies with
> 50 employees
|
With
experience
|
Without
experience
|
With the need for training
|
With < 25 years of age
|
|
Warehousemen assistants
|
609
|
27.2
|
75.4
|
24.8
|
75.2
|
29.1
|
76.2
|
|
Freight movers
|
205
|
10.7
|
26.8
|
18.0
|
82.0
|
53.7
|
58.0
|
|
Computer operators
|
157
|
6.4
|
75.2
|
61.8
|
38.2
|
45.2
|
49.7
|
|
Other professions
|
952
|
4.4
|
30.0
|
36.3
|
63.7
|
49.3
|
35.2
|
|
5. Sales positions and Family services
|
52,008
|
30.1
|
46.9
|
40.3
|
59.7
|
42.4
|
26.7
|
|
Cleaning personnel
|
19,288
|
46.1
|
33.7
|
24.3
|
75.7
|
42.3
|
15.5
|
|
Sales-clerks
|
9,066
|
19.4
|
52.8
|
52.9
|
47.1
|
47.8
|
32.8
|
|
Waiters/Waitresses
|
2,575
|
30.7
|
86.6
|
58.5
|
41.5
|
17.9
|
43.1
|
|
Health care assistants
|
2,513
|
45.7
|
23.8
|
69.8
|
30.2
|
56.3
|
12.1
|
|
Barmen
|
1,533
|
32.6
|
95.7
|
49.4
|
50.6
|
26.3
|
51.7
|
|
Security guards
|
1,215
|
41.5
|
18.2
|
15.3
|
84.7
|
85.9
|
8.6
|
|
Chefs
|
892
|
23.8
|
83.4
|
69.8
|
30.2
|
16.4
|
16.0
|
|
Other professions
|
14,926
|
25.3
|
52.7
|
44.5
|
55.5
|
40.7
|
36.8
|
|
6. Specialized workers
|
53,703
|
29.5
|
82.9
|
61.6
|
38.4
|
27.6
|
30.4
|
|
Bricklayers
|
12,137
|
52.7
|
93.8
|
71.6
|
28.4
|
12.6
|
15.1
|
|
Builing carpenters
|
4,319
|
50.0
|
89.1
|
75.8
|
24.2
|
20.2
|
10.8
|
|
Carpenters
|
3,066
|
37.6
|
90.4
|
55.8
|
44.2
|
33.6
|
37.2
|
|
Plumbers
|
3,019
|
49.3
|
96.6
|
69.5
|
30.5
|
27.7
|
32.8
|
|
Electricians
|
2,234
|
51.4
|
88.7
|
50.8
|
49.2
|
29.9
|
35.4
|
|
System Electricians
|
1,987
|
49.4
|
88.0
|
58.1
|
41.9
|
29.0
|
45.9
|
|
Maintenance mechanics
|
1,028
|
15.7
|
52.9
|
60.5
|
39.5
|
40.4
|
51.3
|
|
Other professions
|
25,913
|
214
|
74.6
|
55.6
|
44.4
|
34.3
|
37.4
|
|
Hirings
1999-2000
|
Of which:
|
|
A.
V.
|
% of
totals
|
Companies with > 50
employees
|
With
experience
|
Without
experience
|
With the need for training
|
With < 25 Years of age
|
|
7. Plant operators, fixed and mobile machinists, assembly
workers
|
43,524
|
30.9
|
58.7
|
43.5
|
56.5
|
43.1
|
33.8
|
|
General production workers
|
8,908
|
26.3
|
36.3
|
31.7
|
68.3
|
47.1
|
38.3
|
|
Truck drivers
|
3,945
|
18.7
|
81.9
|
70.0
|
30.0
|
15.5
|
8.4
|
|
Lathe operators
|
2,501
|
49.0
|
86.8
|
57.7
|
42.3
|
39.1
|
36.6
|
|
Assistant machinists
|
2,098
|
48.3
|
75.9
|
38.7
|
61.3
|
45.5
|
35.9
|
|
Assistant mechanical workers
|
1,810
|
46.8
|
80.9
|
35.4
|
64.6
|
38.0
|
41.0
|
|
Operators of mechanical
production machines
|
1,667
|
42.7
|
57.9
|
45.4
|
54.6
|
53.9
|
|
|
Industrial machine
assemblyists
|
1,072
|
40.3
|
38.5
|
55.3
|
44.7
|
37.2
|
27.8
|
|
Other professions
|
21,523
|
32.5
|
58.0
|
42.3
|
57.7
|
46.5
|
34.9
|
|
8. Non-qualified personnel
|
37,791
|
51.1
|
64.4
|
32.3
|
67.7
|
25.9
|
32.7
|
|
Construction laborers
|
10,857
|
55.8
|
91.9
|
43.2
|
56.8
|
17.0
|
34.0
|
|
Porters
|
3,475
|
48.1
|
16.0
|
22.1
|
77.9
|
25.2
|
32.1
|
|
General laborers
|
2,991
|
55.1
|
62.9
|
26.2
|
73.8
|
35.2
|
32.8
|
|
Machine operators ready-made
cloting
|
2,618
|
46.2
|
75.6
|
42.9
|
57.1
|
38.6
|
39.2
|
|
Ecological operators garbage
collection
|
2,580
|
51.3
|
7.2
|
8.5
|
91.5
|
38.3
|
3.3
|
|
Cargo loaders
|
2,139
|
48,4
|
66.2
|
22.1
|
77.9
|
20.4
|
39.6
|
|
Auxiliary cleaning personnel
|
1,836
|
56,7
|
7.8
|
14.3
|
85.7
|
10.3
|
4.7
|
|
Other professions
|
11295
|
48.2
|
72.5
|
34.4
|
65.6
|
29.9
|
39.9
|
|
Totals
|
200,589
|
24.5
|
62.4
|
45.7
|
54.3
|
35.6
|
30.6
|
|
*
the absolute value reported above is intended as a potential number of
forecasted hirings of non-European personnel on the basis of indications
given by those companies willing to hire this personnel.
The dash (--)
indicates an insignificant value.
|
As we have pointed out many times
before, the participation of foreigners in the Italian labor market is
demonstrated in different ways in the national territory. The geographic
distribution of new hirings shows that the North East has the first position
(both in absolute terms and in the incidence of total hirings) which concerns
both the industrial sector and the service sector wherein foreign work entries
arrive at 1/3 of the total, illustrating a decidely higher incidence than other
geographic locations. Helping create this result are also the high percentages
of six sectors: operational services for companies (54.5%), private health care
services (44%), tourism and restaurant work (42.5%), personal services (36.5%),
transportation and communications (33.5%), and the wholesale and retail trade
(31.4%).
Concerning the North East, the
data relating to the industrial sector is even more significant. It shows how
the use of foreign labor crosses the different sectors to the point that it
greatly mitigates the impression of segregation which stands out in the INPS
statistics on foreigners employed by companies. In many ways this consideration
may be extended to the Center, wood working industries, textiles and clothing,
leather and shoes, show as in the North East a particular propensity to using
foreign labor, higher than the metallurgical/mechanical sectors. What we observe is an incipient work entry
process of foreign workers into the web of difffused industrialization of the
North East Central regions which
realizes the typical made in Italy products. In all divisions, excepting the South
and Islands, rubber and plastic industries register a higher incidence of
foreign hirings, higher than the average of other industries. The unhealthy
aspects of the working conditions is the reason for this datum, making the
foreign labor force an irreplaceable resource for the working of specialized companies
and local systems with this type of production.
Construction represents the only sector which from North to South
without distinction registers a percentage incidence of foreign job entries
close to 40%. Actually the highest value is that of the South and Islands,
where 18,501 hirings of non-Europeans 80% of all those forecast in the
industrial sector! In that division the process of occupational segregation is
more pronounced than in the rest of the country. In the North West hirings in
this sector are 29% of the total, in the North East 20%, and in the Center 36%.
Practically speaking, the more
advanced the process of stablization is for foreign labor then the more its
presence tends to be found in the different industrial sectors, reflecting
local economic traditions.
|
Tab.4 - Forecast hirings in the two year period, 1999-2000 of
personnel from non-European countries, by sectors and geographic areas.
|
|
|
North West
|
North East
|
Center
|
South/Islands
|
|
|
A. V.*
|
% of total
|
A.V.*
|
% of total
|
A.V.*
|
% of total
|
A.V.*
|
% of
total
|
Industry
|
31,269
|
24.3
|
40,483
|
36.0
|
19,131
|
29.7
|
22,697
|
24.3
|
|
Mining
|
132
|
25.2
|
272
|
57.0
|
85
|
19.7
|
143
|
20.1
|
|
Food, drink, and tobacco
industries
|
748
|
12.9
|
2,757
|
40.5
|
760
|
22.9
|
406
|
6.1
|
|
Textiles and clothing
industries
|
3,305
|
28.9
|
3,602
|
42.2
|
2,675
|
42.2
|
488
|
6.8
|
|
Leather and shoe industries
|
225
|
26.1
|
1,523
|
46.5
|
1,690
|
36.9
|
248
|
9.7
|
|
Wood and wood product
industries (excluding furniture)
|
496
|
21.0
|
1,824
|
54.0
|
689
|
47.2
|
176
|
7.7
|
|
Paper and printing industries
|
530
|
10.8
|
756
|
24.2
|
322
|
13.6
|
91
|
|
|
Coal and petroleum industries
|
25
|
8.8
|
27
|
19.4
|
--
|
--
|
--
|
--
|
|
Chemical and synthetic
industries
|
857
|
13.1
|
720
|
31.3
|
298
|
10.6
|
58
|
4.5
|
|
Rubber and plastic industries
|
1,772
|
31.7
|
1,451
|
40.9
|
561
|
34.8
|
169
|
9.7
|
|
Non-metal mineral industries
|
689
|
25.6
|
2,158
|
32.8
|
581
|
22.2
|
638
|
18.2
|
|
Metal industries
|
5,654
|
23.3
|
5,995
|
34.4
|
1,556
|
23.8
|
935
|
11.9
|
|
Mechanical industries and
transportation
|
4,691
|
21.2
|
5,265
|
28.1
|
1,238
|
22.4
|
698
|
11.5
|
|
Electrical and
electronic industrise
|
2,273
|
17.5
|
2,582
|
29.2
|
571
|
14.3
|
220
|
6.3
|
|
Other manufacturing
industries
|
639
|
15.2
|
3,227
|
41.7
|
1,086
|
28.8
|
237
|
9.3
|
|
Energy production, gas and
water
|
213
|
13.4
|
250
|
21.1
|
119
|
12.1
|
133
|
11.5
|
|
Construction
|
9,020
|
39.8
|
8,074
|
39.4
|
6,899
|
38.4
|
18,051
|
40.6
|
|
|
North West
|
North East
|
Center
|
South/Islands
|
|
|
A.V.*
|
% of total
|
V.A.*
|
% of total
|
V.A.*
|
% of total
|
A.V..*
|
% of total
|
Services
|
25,602
|
17.7
|
37,464
|
33.6
|
13,998
|
16.5
|
9,945
|
12.7
|
|
Wholesale and retail trade
and repairs
|
4,859
|
11.3
|
10,821
|
31.4
|
3,288
|
13.1
|
2,718
|
9.9
|
|
Hotels, tourist villages,
restaurants, bars and cafeterias
|
2,202
|
16.1
|
6,213
|
42.5
|
3,986
|
42.8
|
879
|
11.0
|
|
Transportation, travel
agencies, mail and communications
|
2,526
|
15.5
|
5,068
|
33.5
|
1,772
|
13.9
|
716
|
6.8
|
|
Credit and financial
activities
|
216
|
3.3
|
132
|
3.2
|
119
|
3.7
|
59
|
2.8
|
|
Insurance
|
122
|
3.8
|
28
|
2.0
|
44
|
3.4
|
15
|
|
|
Advanced services for
companies
|
1,615
|
8.2
|
722
|
9.4
|
612
|
6.5
|
287
|
4.4
|
|
Operational services for
companies
|
7,990
|
47.6
|
8,390
|
54.5
|
2,306
|
25.8
|
2,874
|
36.8
|
|
Other services for companies
|
662
|
12.9
|
419
|
18.1
|
208
|
9.6
|
302
|
12.6
|
|
Personal services
|
1,921
|
26.5
|
2,257
|
36.5
|
965
|
17.1
|
1,034
|
19.2
|
|
Education and private
training
|
222
|
16.6
|
155
|
16.0
|
74
|
6.2
|
214
|
13.5
|
|
Health and private health
care services
|
2,849
|
35.5
|
2,974
|
44.0
|
427
|
11.1
|
751
|
18.3
|
|
Professional offices
|
418
|
12.4
|
285
|
11.9
|
197
|
10.1
|
96
|
7.3
|
|
Total
|
56,871
|
20.8
|
77,947
|
34.8
|
33,129
|
22.2
|
32,642
|
19.0
|
|
*
the absolute value reported above is intended as a potential number of
hirings of non-European personnel on the basis of indications given by
companies that are willing to hire this personnel.
|
Even in the case of the tertiary
the North East presents a greater articulation than the other areas. In the
Center it is above all tourism, hotel, and restaurant sectors which request
imported labor (42.8%), more than the operational services for companies sector
(25.8%). The latter is the highest tertiary sector in the North West regions
(47.6%) and in the South and Islands (36.8%). These sectors are joined by those
that request foreigners in the personal services sector (26.5% North West and
19.2% for the South and Islands) and for health services (35.5% in North West
and 18.3% in South and Islands). It goes without saying that if this data had
included the requests for personal service workers coming directly from
families it would have increased the number of forecast hirings, particularly
in the North West, South and Islands.
Because of space limitations, in
this chapter we will not conduct other analyses concerning the territorial
breaking up of needs with the characteristics of forecast hirings (for example,
from the point of view of the requisites requested by professional positions
and the forecast training needs). We will however examine the provincial distribution
of new hirings. Table 5 presents a list of the first 10 provinces that concur
in new hirings of foreigners, obtained by selecting the provinces that reach
the level of 5,000 new hirings. In the first places of the ranking are four
large cities which are county seats, then four Venetian provinces, one in
Emilia Romagna and one in Lombardy. If we pass from this ranking to the one
that is constructed by utilizing the percentage of non-European hirings in the
total of forecast job entries [Table 5], the picture is redefined in a
significant way. Milan, Rome and Turin together total over 32,000 new hirings
of foreigners and yet they present a percentage incidence of the latter that is
lower (in the case of Milan and Rome), or slightly higher (the case of Turin)
than what is registered in the Southern regions. Viceversa, in 24 provinces
this percentage is above 30% of forecast job entries. Among these there is no
Lombardy city even if this region has had an important role in the process of
job entry for immigrants in the Italian economic system. This role clearly
stands out if we consider absolute values, 36,301 new hirings, equal to 18% of
the national total. Yet Brescia, the province with the highest propensity to
use foreign labor, arrives "only" at 25.6%. Bergamo, third province after Milan
and Brescia has 4,268 new entries, an incidence equal to 21.8%, and Lecco which
has very low levels of unemployment (some say the lowest in the world) presents
an incidence equal to 21.5%.
|
Tab.5 - Forecast hirings in the two year period,
1999-2000 of personnel from non-European countries, ranking of provinces with
over 5,000 forecast hirings
|
|
Provinces
|
Hirings 1999-2000
A.V.*
|
Hirings 1999-2000
% of total
|
Artisanal sector
A.V..
|
|
Milan
|
15,676
|
18.1
|
2,071
|
|
Rome
|
8,704
|
18.2
|
757
|
|
Bologna
|
8,342
|
33.5
|
1,064
|
|
Turin
|
8,161
|
20.2
|
1,381
|
|
Vicenza
|
6,340
|
33.4
|
1,601
|
|
Treviso
|
6,186
|
35.6
|
1,701
|
|
Modena
|
5,801
|
33.7
|
1,200
|
|
Brescia
|
5,608
|
25.6
|
1,718
|
|
Padua
|
5,577
|
33.7
|
1,619
|
|
Venice
|
5,051
|
35.0
|
1,129
|
|
Total
|
200,589
|
24.5
|
49,922
|
|
*
the absolute value reported above is intended as the potential number of
personnel hirings of non-Europeans determined on the basis of the indications
of companies willing to hire this personnel.
|
Table 6 illustrates the fact that
the regions of Triveneto and Emilia Romagna register (together with the two
provinces of Rieti and Vercelli) in percentage terms the highest propensity to
use foreign labor. In more explicit terms, all
the provinces of these regions register an incidence of non-European hirings
above (and often significantly above) 30% of the total and in certain cases the
number arrives at 40%. This quota has no correspondence on an international
level, not even in countries that traditionally import foreign labor.
Beyond the local pecularities
that we have already noted, there is a specific motive of interest offered by a
comparison between the two tables. It illustrates the fact that local societies
which present the highest capacity to absorb foreign labor (Milan and Rome for
example, which have tens of thousands of personal service jobs, excluded from
the present survey) are not necessarily those in which the difficulties of
recruiting labor are the most noticed and the pressure of new flows more
decided. This is an aspect that must not be underrated or the penalty will be
the risk of interepreting in a distorted way the signals that come from
extremely dynamic economic systems that have a modest sized occupational base
(as is the case with the the two provinces in the ranking, Rovigo and Belluno).
|
Tab.6 - Forecast hirings for the two year period,
1999-2000 of personnel from non-European countries, ranking of provinces with
an incidence of % on the total of new hirings above 30%.
|
|
Province
|
Hirings 1999-2000 A.V.
*
|
Hirings 1999-2000
% of the total
|
In the artisanal
sector
A.V..
|
|
Rovigo
|
1,226
|
39.5
|
488
|
|
Belluno
|
1,648
|
38.7
|
474
|
|
Pordenone
|
2.653
|
37.9
|
590
|
|
Ravenna
|
3,030
|
37.7
|
558
|
|
Forlì
|
2,751
|
36.9
|
792
|
|
Trento
|
3,233
|
36.7
|
799
|
|
Rimini
|
1,865
|
36.5
|
525
|
|
Bolzano
|
3,616
|
36.2
|
902
|
|
Gorizia
|
929
|
35.7
|
183
|
|
Treviso
|
6,186
|
35.6
|
1,701
|
|
Parma
|
3,243
|
35.4
|
627
|
|
Ferrara
|
1,847
|
35.1
|
502
|
|
Venice
|
5,051
|
35.0
|
1,129
|
|
Udine
|
3,461
|
34.8
|
963
|
|
Piacenza
|
1,577
|
34.4
|
375
|
|
Modena
|
5,801
|
33.7
|
1,200
|
|
Padua
|
5,577
|
33.7
|
1,619
|
|
Bologna
|
8,342
|
33.5
|
1,064
|
|
Vicenza
|
6,340
|
33.4
|
1,601
|
|
Verona
|
4,753
|
33.3
|
1,143
|
|
Reggio Emilia
|
3,644
|
33.1
|
843
|
|
Rieti
|
360
|
32.3
|
135
|
|
Vercelli
|
1,148
|
30.5
|
204
|
|
Trieste
|
1,174
|
30.2
|
182
|
|
Total
|
200,589
|
24.5
|
49,922
|
|
*
The absolute value reported must be understood as a potential number of
hirings of personnel from outside the European Union determined on the basis
of the indications of those companies which are willing to hire them.
|
We must once again emphasize the significance of the
forecasts gathered by the Excelsior survey. These data do not measure actual
hirings of non-European Union workers but the willingness to hire this
personnel. It could be in some cases merely a declaration of open mindedness
and universalism, given by the affirmation that there is no preclusion based on
race and citizenship. Often on the basis of past studies and research the data
registers the knowledge of an added need that cannot be satisfied by the local
supply. They signal therefore, the existence of a lack of balance in the labor
market that refers to territories, sectors, and specific jobs. This lack of
balance has evidently reached a significant level, it arrives at about a fourth
of the professional needs of Italian companies and almost 40% in the case of
certain provinces in the North East.
Evidently, the use of imported
labor cannot, and should not, represent the only practicable solution.
Courageous strategies of de-localization and a return to internal migrations
from the South could constitute valid alternatives which in certain ways would
be positive (it is not by chance that the many requests for new entries in 2000
soon became a debate about favoring the transfer of unemployed from the South).
These seem to be costly alternatives, not only in economic terms, but above all
in planning, since they intersect with the complex choices and strategies of
companies and local systems. This problem cannot but be intertwined with
important long term themes such as the competitive re-positioning of companies,
the ability of local societies to receive people, the efficacy of institutional
regulations, an effective will to fight illegal labor ("lavoro nero") and so
on. On the other hand, recent literature on the Southern question has bluntly
shown that to solve the unemployment problem in the South means finding a way
to instill a new work culture, especially among the young. Internal migrations
and foreign migrations are not then two opposing solutions, but two components
of the same challenge. This challenge is to guarantee a real regulation of the
labor market that follows the needs of companies and at the same time protects
occupations and the weakest members of society.
3.2.4 Final Considerations
All the data gathered by the
Excelsior information sytem confirms (besides the limits that we can recognize
in forecast surveys) certain already acquired aspects that are shared by the
Italian population. Among these are: the structural character of foreign labor
needs relating to widespread difficulties in recruiting personnel, the
territorial diversification of needs that mirrors the dynamism of the economic
system and local productive vocations,and the trend for an ethnicization of
certain jobs which prefigures the risk of a further strengthening of the
refusal of locals to fill these jobs.
Nevertheless, the data makes
evident certain aspects that are not yet clearly visible and these can be used
to define the future scene of immigrant work in Italy. In the first place, the
progessive spreading out of foreigners into a number of production sectors
which is verified in parallel with a territorial stabilization of immigrant
populations. A consequence of this phenomena for the future will be the
opportunity for female labor to work in the industrial sector (for example in
textiles and foodprocessing) instead of being segregated to cleaning and
domestic labor as is now the case. The existence of a great need for qualified
workers and technicians is confirmed, and also that of personnel with nursing
and personal care skills which illustrates the need to invest in the training
of immigrant labor. On the basis of our analysis, training initiatives should
aim at building both "technical" and "meta-professional" skills. Nothing blocks
them from being developed before immigrating to Italy with the collaboration of
the authorities of the country of origin. This aspect could become an important
piece of the entry quota policy as it is hoped for in several of the bilateral
agreements that have been signed in the last years and forecast in the 2001
entry quota decree. The Excelsior data signal also the beginning of a small need
(which should not be ignored for its "cultural" significance) for highly qualified
personnel which is similar to the international trends (the 2001 entry quota
decree will provide for the first time special quotas of foreign workers such
as nurses and new economy technicians).
The data especially confirms the opportunity for involving local societies and
in their context, local companies, not only in the accounting of professional
needs,
but also in the planning of paths of job entry which comes with the knowledge
of the relationship that unites the sphere of economic inclusion with the
social integration sphere. But to make that planning actually come true there
must first be a construction of collective consensus around immigration policy
and immigrants, which up to now has been conditioned (both in the elaboration
and implementation) by allarming representations of this phenomena.
This objective reminds us of the companies' responsibilities since thay are the
primary beneficiaries of the resource of immigration. They are, above all, the
principal subjects able to appreciate the possibility of using this resource in
a continuous way and hence of enhancing the value of the economic potential
that immigration represents.
|
|
|
