Rising number of 'working poor' among migrants says report

(ANSA) - ROME, OCT 16 - The 60.7% employment rate of non-EU foreign workers last year was closer to the 61. 5% rate of the totality of workers in Italy yet nearly one foreigner in four who sought the assistance of a Caritas centre was a "working poor", or 28.1%, according to the annual report drafted by the Catholic charity and the Migrantes foundation published on Wednesday.
    Overall, between 2019 and 2023, the demand for immigrant workers increased significantly with the percentage of foreign workers among new hires rising from 13.6% in 2019 to 19.2% in 2023, said the 33rd Immigration Report 2024 drafted by Caritas and Migrantes.
    The number of foreign residents increased in 2023 with 5.3 million non-EU citizens stably residing in Italy as of January 2024, up 3.2% on the previous year And recent studies, the report also noted, suggested that in the world of social media the "rise in migrant and refugee arrivals was among the main factors leading to the incitement of hatred" with young foreigners more exposed to online bullying compared to their Italian peers.
    "The result was that 49.5% of young foreigners said they were the victim of at least one offensive, disrespectful and/or violent incident committed by another youth over the month before the survey against 42.4% of their Italian peers", the study said Misogyny was the most widespread form of online hatred with one in two foreign girls sayng they had endured some form of gender-based abuse. (ANSA).