The document summarizes work by the OECD on integration of immigrants, including country reviews, indicators of integration, and thematic reports. It then analyzes data on Italy, finding that while immigrant employment rates are relatively good, professional mobility is limited. Immigrant workers were hit hard by the economic crisis, especially men and those from North Africa. Issues include the high proportion of low-educated immigrants, poor housing conditions, late arrival of many immigrant children associated with lower education and employment outcomes, and the low performance of immigrant offspring. Overall, the document indicates key challenges around employability, housing, late arrival of children, and outcomes for the children of immigrants in Italy.

1. OECD work on the integration of
immigrants and their children
How does Italy compare?
Cécile Thoreau
International Migration Division
Directorate for Employment, Labour and
Social Affairs, OECD

2. Work by the International Migration Division on the integration of immigrants
and their children
2
 Country reviews on labour market integration for 12 OECD countries
(« Jobs for immigrants »; Vol. 1-3)
 Indicators of integration (Settling In: OECD Indicators of Immigrant
integration)
 Continuous monitoring in the International Migration Outlook
 Cross-cutting thematic work on specific issues, e.g.
• Children of immigrants
• Immigrants’ skills and qualifications
• Discrimination; naturalisation; entrepreneurship.

3. Objectives of the OECD publication on indicators of integration
 Provide a set of contextual indicators as a support to the analysis of
each indicator
 Disentangle as much as possible the influence of demographic and
educational characteristics on outcomes
 Analyse progress over time
 Measure also outcomes of offspring of immigrants (Benchmark for
integration)

4. Content of the OECD publication on indicators of integration
 Focus on the foreign-born and their children
 21 indicators in seven central integration areas
 Rich context information on the characteristics of
the immigrant population for all 34 OECD countries,
to account for the different composition of immigrant
populations
 Comprehensive documentation and analysis on the basis of prior
OECD work on integration
 Country notes and an interactive tool online to compare countries:
www.oecd.org/migration/integrationindicators.htm

5. Overall, in international comparisons, immigrant labour market outcomes
are not unfavourable in Italy…
5
Employment rates by gender and place of birth in selected OECD countries, 2011-2012
-20
-15
-10
-5
0
5
10
15
Difference with native-born men Difference with native-born women
Immigrants
are more
likely to be
employed
Immigrants
are less
likely to be
employed
%
points
… but the positive gap is partly driven by the age composition of the
immigrant population…

6. The share of low-educated is particularly high among the working-age population
but also among young migrants
6
-10
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
15-34 Foreign-born ISCED 0-2 15-34 Difference with the native-born ISCED 0-2
Percentage of 15-34 low-educated migrants, 2011
Levels and differences with the native-born
Note: Persons still in education are counted separately. ISCED 0-2 refers to a level of education at best equivalent to
lower secondary.
Source: Eurostat 2011 Labour Force Survey.
 Comparable share of low-educated among the 15-64 (43.5%) - (35.9% in these
selected European countries).

7. 7
In all countries (and Italy is no exception), the highly educated immigrants
are less likely to be employed than their native-born counterparts
Difference in employment rate of foreign- and native-born persons 15 to 64, 2009-10
-20
-10
0
10
20
Low educated Highly educated
Note: excluding persons still in education.
Source: Settling in, OECD 2012.

8. Immigrants are strongly over-represented in low-skilled jobs
8
Share of immigrants in low-skilled jobs, by gender, 2009-10
01020
Australia
Ireland
United States
Poland
Sweden
Hungary
Canada
Norway
United Kingdom
Czech Republic
Slovak Republic
Denmark
Switzerland
Finland
Netherlands
Luxembourg
OECD average
Belgium
Estonia
Iceland
Germany
Portugal
Slovenia
France
Austria
Spain
Italy
Greece
Native-born
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Men Women
Foreign-born
Source: Settling in,
OECD 2012.
• Half of the highly educated employed immigrants are overqualified in their jobs.
• Migrants who obtained their diploma abroad as well as those born outside the
OECD zone are the most affected by overqualification.

9. … and in some specific sectors
9
Industry segregation by gender, 2008 and 2012
Source: Settling in, OECD 2012.
Source: International Migration Outlook, OECD, 2013.

10. The economic crisis has particularly affected immigrant men labour market
outcomes
10
Immigrant and native-born employment rates by gender, 2001-2012
Source: International Migration Outlook, OECD, 2013.

11. Marked decline in North Africans labour market outcomes
11
Immigrant and native-born employment rates by region of origin, 2007-2012, Italy
40
45
50
55
60
65
70
75
80
85
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
EU15 + EFTA Bulgaria and Romania other Europe
North Africa Asia Native-born
%
Source: Quarterly Labour Force Surveys, ISTAT.

12. 12
Other findings from Settling in: OECD Indicators of Immigrant Integration
• 17.8% of immigrants are at risk of poverty in Italy (same rate in the OECD
on average) but children living in an immigrant household are much more at
risk to live in poverty than their native peers.
• Low home ownership rate and bad housing conditions are only partly
explained by age of the household head and level of income.
• The share of immigrant self employed is high in international comparison
but low in the national context. The share slightly increases with the
duration of stay.
• The share of nationals among the foreign-born population (excluding
nationals at birth) is low in international comparison.
• Among immigrants born outside the OECD zone, highly educated
immigrants are twice as likely to be naturalised than their low educated
peers.

13. Most children of immigrants are born abroad
Immigrants and native-born offspring of immigrants aged 15 to 34, 2008
Percentage of the population 15-34
13
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Immigrants
Native-born offspring of immigrants
%
Source: Settling in: OECD Indicators of Immigrant Integration, OECD.
…and their share among young adults is growing

14. High probability of having poor reading skills
at the age of 15 and high penalty for arriving at old ages
-10
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
Immigrant students who arrived between 6 and 12 Immigrant students who arrived after 12
14
Difference in PISA 2009 reading scores with immigrant students who arrived before 6, after
accounting for socio-economic background
More than a quarter of minor children arrive after the age of 11
Note: Students aged around 15 in 2009.
Source: PISA 2009, OECD.

15. High proportion of immigrant students not speaking Italian at home and a
high penalty for those who do not
15
Difference in reading scores between native students and students with an immigrant
background who speak a language at home that is different from the language of
assessment, after accounting for socio-economic background
Note: Students aged around 15 in 2009.
Source: PISA 2009, OECD.
AUT
BEL
DNK
EST
FIN
FRA
DEU
GRC IRL
ISR
ITA
LUX
NZL
NORPRT
SVN
ESP
SWE
CHE
GBR
USA
OECD
-40
-20
0
20
40
60
80
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
% speaking another language at home
Difference in points

16. Differences in distribution by type of schools explain part of differences in
mean reading scores
16
2009 PISA reading scores and percentage of students by type of schools and immigrant status
0
10
20
30
40
50
0
100
200
300
400
500
High-school Technical
institute
Vocational
institute
Lower
secondary
school
Vocational
training course
(regional
programmes)
Scores Scores
% distribution (right-hand scale) % distribution (right-hand scale)
Scores %
Offspring of native-born: Immigrant students:
Note: Students aged around 15 in 2009.
Source: PISA 2009, OECD.

17. Difficult transition to work for youngsters with a foreign background,
especially for those arrived at a late age
17
NEET rates by place of birth in selected OECD countries, 2008, 2011 and 2012
Percentage of the 15-24 population who is neither in employment, nor in education or training
Source: International Migration Outlook, OECD, 2013.

18. Summary of findings
18
• Labour market outcomes are still relatively good, but limited
professional mobility of migrants raises concerns.
• Immigrant workers have been hardly hit by the crisis, in particular
men and North Africans.
• Employability, in particular of low-educated migrants, is a key issue.
• Immigrant housing conditions are unfavourable, unconditional on
their level of income and this raises issues in terms of access to credit
and access to information on the renting system.
• Many children of immigrants arrive at old age and this is associated
with low educational and labour market outcomes.
• Low educational outcomes of offspring of immigrants require special
policy attention.

19. Thank you for your attention!
For further information on the OECD’s work
on integration:
www.oecd.org/migration