The Labour Market Needs Them, But We Don’t Want Them to Stay for Good: The Conundrum of Migrants, Refugees and Asylum Seekers’ Integration in Italy

Italy is a very complex case of migration management and of foreign workers’ integration in the labour market. Both have developed in the grip of structural national limits, due to the economic and social structure of the country, but also to its political culture and legal framework. Work is certainly among the most effective instruments for ensuring the effective integration of foreigners into the social fabric of the host country. However, the chapter discusses the many obstacles that hinder the full integration of foreigners into the Italian labour market, especially when they do not have a residence permit for work reasons but are beneficiaries of international and humanitarian protection. Since access to work for beneficiaries of international and humanitarian protection is still very complicated, there is a strong risk that the progressive reduction in the number of permits granted for work reasons and the simultaneous increase in the number of those granted for protection will slow down the process of integration through work. Furthermore, particularly long and complicated administrative recruitment procedures would require a comprehensive review of the legislation to become instruments of social and economic integration and not of marginalization. Against this backdrop, the chapter highlights how the law may abdicate from its empowering purpose to become a concrete barrier for the full enjoyment of newcomers fundamental rights.