Immigrant workers contributed 143.9 billion euros ($148 billion) to Italy’s economy, or 9 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) last year, a new report showed.
Based on data from the National Institute of Statistics and other public institutions, the “Economics of Immigration” annual report by the Leone Moressa Foundation provided a range of insights into the role played by foreign-born workers and entrepreneurs on the domestic market, reports Xinhua news agency.
Out of 5.2 million immigrants residing in Italy last year, some 2,257,000 were employed, accounting for 10 per cent of the total workforce, the report said.
The highest contribution from them in value was registered in agriculture, catering and construction sectors.
After a sharp decline due to Covid-related restrictions, new working permits for immigrants increased significantly from about 10,000 in 2020 to over 50,000 in 2021, corresponding to 9.7 per cent and 18.5 per cent of the total issued permits, respectively.
However the report said that the job market remained fragmented, with a stronger concentration of immigrant workers in some sectors and occupations than in others.
In 2021, about 29.2 per cent were unskilled personnel, while skilled and technical professions accounted for about 2.2 per cent.
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But Immigrant entrepreneurship are on the rise.
The report said by the end of 2021, foreign-born entrepreneurs increased by 1.8 per cent compared to the previous year to 753,000, representing a tenth of total entrepreneurs in Italy.
It also shows that while the number of Italian-born entrepreneurs has decreased by 8.6 per cent in the last ten years, foreign-born entrepreneurs increased by 31.6 per cent.
The top three nationalities of foreign-born entrepreneurs working in Italy in 2021 were Chinese, which grew by 0.7 per cent on an annual basis, followed by Romanians and Moroccans.
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