It's no coincidence. Among the great changes recorded in Italy in the first decade of the single currency is the vertical growth of immigration. With the euro, globalization and the new international division of labor that has established itself with China's entry into the WTO, Italy has become a pole of attraction for substantial currents of incoming migration, changing a centuries-old history characterized by an entirely different sign. The last five years of crisis and recession have further contributed to shaping this new relationship which sees immigration at the center of the complex scenario of internationalization of the Italian economy. A scenario in which the challenge of the economic and social integration of immigrants is a necessary condition for a recovery process.
In our country in 2001 the foreign population amounted to 1,3 million people. Today there are over 5 million regular immigrants in Italy. They are 15 percent of all immigrants present in the EU territory whereas Italy's GDP constitutes only 12 percent of the product of the entire European Union. More than in other European countries, in Italy the presence of immigrants constitutes an essential support for the economy. This is clearly indicated by the values of the employment rates. Among the large countries of the Eurozone, Italy is the only one where the employment rate of non-EU citizens exceeds the total values of the same.
Not only. If the total employment rate in Italy is significantly lower than in Germany, France and on average for the European Union, exactly the opposite is true for the employment rate of non-EU immigrants. In Italy 60,4% of immigrants are employed against 54,9% of the European average, 54,6% in Germany and 45,4% in France. Put in other words, in Italy the contribution of foreigners to employment brings our country closer to the targets of the Europe 2020 Agenda, which point to an employment rate of 75%. Not the same happens elsewhere.
In addition to the employment rate, another useful indicator for understanding the contribution of immigrants to the Italian economy is the activity rate, i.e. the ratio between people who work or are in any case looking for a job and the total population. Today the activity rate of foreigners in Italy stands at around 71 per cent, eight points above the degree of participation in the labor market of Italian citizens.
With employment rates and activity rates significantly higher than those of "native" Italians, immigrant citizens structurally show an unemployment rate higher than the average of the entire national economy. The gap is about three points, thirteen against ten percent to think about the most recent orders of magnitude. Nonetheless, the unemployment rates recorded by foreigners in Italy are much lower than those recorded in the European average or in countries such as France and Spain. In Italy immigrants are less unemployed than elsewhere in Europe.
The recession hits immigrants as hard as it does natives. In Italy in the last year the unemployment rate rose from 7,4 to 10,1 per cent for Italians and from 10,9 to 13,6 per cent for foreigners. Between 2007 and mid-2012, the "Italian" unemployed grew from 1.370 thousand to 2.334 thousand, against a "native" population that decreased by 1,5 million units and three per cent. Over the same period, the unemployed foreigners increased from 136 to 371, against a population of legally resident foreigners which grew by two million units and sixty per cent in five years.
Despite the long financial crisis and the almost seamless succession of two recessions, the number of foreigners who are legally employed in Italy has continued to increase. Over the five years from mid-2007 to mid-2012, foreign employment grew by 850 units, 85 of which in the last twelve months. Without the contribution of immigrants, the total loss of employed persons recorded in the last five years would have been not 350, but 1,1 million units.
The fact whether the work of immigrants adds to or replaces that of Italians is a topic debated at both a theoretical and an empirical level. The evidence gathered from numerous surveys tends to indicate that the contribution of immigrants has largely gone towards filling the supply deficit of the Italian workforce with reference to a whole series of generally, but not necessarily, low-skilled professional opportunities. In this sense, foreign work appears to be more complementary than a substitute for Italian work. Some interesting evidence collected by the Leone Moressa Foundation documents how the cases in which, for certain trades and professions, in the period 2007-2011 the number of employed increased both for immigrants and for Italians are not rare. Similarly, there are numerous cases in which the increase in foreigners has not compensated for the decrease in Italians.
For the Italian economy, immigration has represented a sort of "internalisation" of the changes produced by the historical combination between the affirmation of globalization and the adoption of the single European currency. Globalization and the euro have changed the competitive paradigm of the driving sector of the Italian economy, the one exposed to international competition. The euro has proved to be a much stronger and more stable currency than the lira was. This, together with the growth of the industrial power of the emerging economies, has contributed to determining a wide gap in the economic convenience between producing goods in Italy and producing them elsewhere. The contribution of immigration has made it possible to cushion the impact of this wedge.
In 2003, the average annual salary of a non-EU immigrant amounted to 9.423 euros, equal to 50 percent of the average salary of an Italian worker. In 2011, the pay gap remains large, but falls from 50 to 25 percent. A path of convergence has begun. But in the context of a harsh and long recession, the approach is likely to take place downwards. Instead of the economic and social ascent of the immigrant towards a higher average condition, what we are witnessing today is the "slipping" of substantial portions of the Italian workforce into situations of lasting precariousness and economic weakness. A difficult situation, which must be contrasted with an organic plan of tension towards growth and integration.
Young people, immigrants, women. They are the weak links in a common chain exposed to the same risks of underemployment, disqualification, impoverishment. For immigrants, the vicious circle is even more hateful. For foreigners, the negative effects of the recession on work not only represent economic damage, but also a risk of social exclusion. The possibility of citizenship for immigrants is based on work, on regular work, given the "procyclicality" of the regulations currently in force. The project to relaunch the growth of the Italian economy must focus on the integration and, above all, on the enhancement of the new entrepreneurship of immigrants – over 400 businesses, especially small ones.
