In Italy, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni decided to issue work permits to 425 thousand people who are not EU citizens after the pandemic, especially in the construction and tourism sectors.
The Bank of Italy has also warned that a severe shortage of skilled workers, including in the tourism, construction and IT sectors, threatens the country's ability to achieve its EU-funded €200 billion post-pandemic recovery plan. The Rome administration, which issued fewer than 31,000 work permits per year to workers from outside the EU before the coronavirus outbreak in Italy, thus decided to increase the quota applied.
The Meloni government, which will provide an additional 40,000 quotas on top of the more than 82,000 work permits in process this year, said the quotas were set after discussions with employers and unions to assess the real needs of the economy. The government is careful about the integration of foreign workers and at the same time wants to help employers fill vacancies, opposition politicians said, while opposition politicians accused the right-wing government of hypocrisy, recalling its past attitudes towards immigrants.
While the number of irregular migrants arriving in Italy since the beginning of this year has decreased by 70 thousand, 31 thousand compared to the same period last year, the government in Italy has decided to significantly increase the number of work permits issued to non-EU citizens in order to close the employment gap and will increase the number of work permits from 31 thousand per year to 425 thousand by 2025.
