Abstract
Adult women from former Soviet Union countries, play an increasingly central role in Italian labour market. They are occupied mainly in home care services and they support Italian elderly and vulnerable population. However, there is a lack of studies on migrants from these countries to Italy and on their labour market position, especially in the case of quantitative approaches. This chapter explores whether there are specific migratory models of former Soviet Union women citizens. The determinants of being employed, overeducated and employed in care services are deepened through a multidimensional analysis using the Heckman two-step procedure. Results based on the quarterly Labour Force Survey conducted in Italy by Italian national statistical institute (ISTAT), indicate that they present typical demographic characteristics and migratory strategies, although some differences emerge within specific nationalities. Former Soviet Union citizens are mostly women aged 40 years and over, often they experienced the end of a previous union and one out of four have graduated from university. Overall, while their occupational status is higher than for other nationalities, our results show their high risks of becoming “trapped” in over-educated and sectorial employment.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Baldassar, L., Gabaccia, D. R., Carnevale, N. C., & Ruberto, L. E. (Eds.). (2011). Intimacy and Italian migration: Gender and domestic lives in a mobile world. New York: Fordham University.
Bara, A., Di Bartolomeo, A., Brunarska, Z., Makaryan, S., Mananashvili, S., & Weinar, A. (2013). Regional migration report: Eastern Europe. European University Institute. http://cadmus.eui.eu/bitstream/handle/1814/28898/CARIM-East_EasternEurope.pdf?sequence=1
Barbiano Di Belgiojoso, E., & Ortensi, L. E. (2015). Female labour segregation in the domestic Services in Italy. Journal of International Migration and Integration, 16(4), 1121–1139.
Barbiano di Belgiojoso, E., & Terzera, L. (2018). Family reunification – who, when, and how? Family trajectories among migrants in Italy. Demographic Research, 38, 737–772.
Bernardi, F., Garrido, L., & Miyar, M. (2010). The recent fast upsurge of immigrants in Spain and their employment patterns and occupational attainment. International Migration, 49(1), 148–187.
Bommes, M. H., Fassmann, H., & Sievers, W. (2014). Migration from the Middle East and North Africa to Europe. Amsterdam: IMISCOE Research-Amsterdam University Press.
Bonifazi, C. (2000). European migration policy: Questions from Italy. In R. King, G. Lazaridis, & C. Tsardanides (Eds.), Eldorado or fortress? Migration in Southern Europe (pp. 235–252). New York: St. Martin’s Press.
Bonifazi, C., Heins, F., Strozza, S., & Vitiello, M. (2009). The Italian transition from emigration to immigration country (Working Paper n. 24. IRPPS-CNR, January 2009), (IDEA Working Paper n. 5, March, 2009).
Caponio, T., & Colombo, A. (2011). Migrazione, separazione coniugale e ruoli di genere. Il caso delle lavoratrici domestiche in Italia [Migration, marital separation and gender roles. The case of domestic workers in Italy]. Polis, 25(3), 419–448. https://doi.org/10.1424/35849.
Cela, E., Fokkema, T., & Ambrosetti, E. (2013). Variation in transnationalism among Eastern European migrants in Italy: the role of duration of residence and integration. Southeast European and Black Sea Studies, 13(2), 195–209.
CENSIS, & ISMU. (2013). Servizi alla persona e occupazione nel welfare che cambia [Services for individuals and employment in the changing welfare]. Rome: CENSIS.
Chiswick, B. R., & Miller, P. W. (2009). The international transferability of immigrants’ human capital. Economics of Education Review, 28, 162–169.
Cvajner, M. (2012). The presentation of self in emigration: Eastern European women in Italy. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 642(1), 186–199.
Di Bartolomeo, A., Gabrielli, G., & Strozza, S. (2017). Integration in Italy among selected migrant communities: Does country of origin matter? In A. Di Bartolomeo, S. Kalantaryan, J. Salamońska, & P. Fargues (Eds.), Migrant Integration between Homeland and Host Society – Volume 2. How countries of origin impact migrant integration outcomes: An analysis (Global migration issues) (Vol. 8, pp. 169–186). Cham: Springer.
Espinoza, R. (2017). Immigrants and the direct care workforce. PHI: Bronx, NY.
Fassmann, H., & Münz, R. (Eds.). (1994). European migration in the late twentieth century: Historical patterns, actual trends and social implications. Aldershot: Edward Elgar.
Fedyuk, O., & Kindler, M. (Eds.) (2016). Ukrainian migration to the European Union. IMISCOE Research Series. Springer Open.
Fernández, C., & Ortega, C. (2008). Labor market assimilation of immigrants in Spain: Employment at the expense of bad job-matches? Spanish Economic Review, 10(2), 83–107.
Fullin, G., & Reyneri, E. (2011). Low unemployment and bad jobs for new immigrants in Italy. International Migration, 49(1), 118–147.
Goździak, E. M., & Martin, S. F. (2004). The economic integration of immigrants in the United States: A review of the literature. In E. Chao & A. Levine (Eds.), Integrating immigrants into the workforce: North American and European experience (pp. 1–20). Washington, DC: United States Department of Labor, Bureau of International Labor Affairs.
Heckman, J. J. (1976). Simultaneous equation model with continuous and discrete endogenous variables and structural shift. In S. Goldfeld & R. Quandt (Eds.), Studies in non-linear estimation. Cambridge: Ballinger.
ISTAT. (2011). Occupati e disoccupati. Anno 2010 [Employed and unemployed people. Year 2010]. Statistiche Flash. Roma: Istituto Nazionale di Statistica.
ISTAT. (2013). Occupati e disoccupati. Anno 2012 [Employed and unemployed people. Year 2012]. Roma: Istituto Nazionale di Statistica.
Kogan, I. (2011). New immigrants – Old disadvantage patterns? Labor market integration of recent immigrants into Germany. International Migration, 49(1), 91–117.
Kupets, O. (2016). Economic aspects of Ukrainian migration to EU countries. In O. Fedyuk & M. Kindler (Eds.), Ukrainian migration to the European Union (IMISCOE research series) (pp. 35–50). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-41776-9_3.
Lindley, J. (2009). The over-education of UK immigrants and minority ethnic groups: Evidence from the labor force survey. Economics of Education Review, 28, 80–89.
Marchetti, S. (2013). Dreaming circularity? Eastern European women and job sharing in paid home care. Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies, 11(4), 347–363.
Marchetti, S., & Venturini, A. (2013). Mothers and grandmothers on the move: Labour mobility and the household strategies of Moldovan and Ukrainian migrant women in Italy. International Migration, 52(5), 111–126. https://doi.org/10.1111/imig.12131.
OECD. (2007). International migration outlook: SOPEMI. Paris: OECD.
OECD. (2009). International migration outlook: SOPEMI. Paris: OECD.
Olivito, E. (Ed.). (2016). Gender and migration in Italy: A multilayered perspective. New York: Routledge.
Perelli-Harris, B. (2008). Family formation in post-Soviet Ukraine: Changing effects of education in a period of rapid social change. Social Forces, 87(2), 767–794.
Quintini, G. (2011). Over-qualified or under-skilled: A review of existing literature (OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers No. 121). OECD.
Salaris, L., & Tedesco, N. (2019). Migration and the labour market: Ukrainian women in the Italian care sector. Journal of International Migration and Integration, 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12134-019-00656-1.
Sciortino, G. (2004). Immigration in a Mediterranean welfare state: The Italian experience in comparative perspective. Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis, 6(2), 111–129.
Shutes, I. (2012). The employment of migrant workers in long-term care: Dynamics of choice and control. Journal of Social Policy, 41(01), 45–59.
Sobotka, T. (2009). Migration continent Europe. Vienna Yearbook of Population Research, 7, 217–233.
Solari, C. (2010). Resource drain vs. constitutive circularity: Comparing the gendered effects of post-Soviet migration patterns in Ukraine. Anthropology of East Europe Review, 28(1), 215–238.
Spohn, W., & Triandafyllidou, A. (2003). Europeanisation, national identities and migration: Changes in boundary constructions between Western and Eastern Europe. London: Routledge.
Strozza, S. (2010). International migration in Europe in the first decade of the 21st century. Rivista Italiana di Economia Demografia e Statistica, 64(3), 7–43.
Strozza, S., & De Santis, G. (Eds.) (2017). Rapporto sulla popolazione: le molte facce della presenza straniera in Italia [Population report: The many faces of the foreign presence in Italy]. Il Mulino.
Strozza, S., & Zucchetti, E. (Eds.). (2006). Il Mezzogiorno dopo la grande regolarizzazione. Vecchi e nuovi volti della presenza migratoria [The South after the regularization. Old and new patterns of migratory presence in Italy] (p. 2). Milan: Franco Angeli.
Strozza, S., Paterno, A., Bernardi, L., & Gabrielli, G. (2009). Migrants in the Italian labour market: Gender differences and regional disparities. In H. Stalford, S. Velluti, & S. Currie (Eds.), Gender and migration in 21st century Europe (pp. 131–160). The Liverpool Law School: University of Liverpool.
Therborn, G. (2004). Between sex and power: Family in the world 1900–2000. London: Routledge.
Therborn, G., (ed.) (2006). African families in a global context. (Research Report No. 131). Uppsala: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet.
United Nations Development Programme. (2003). Gender issues in Ukraine: Challenges and opportunities. http://europeandcis.undp.org/gender/ukraine
Van Hooren, F. J. (2012). Varieties of migrant care work: Comparing patterns of migrant labour in social care. Journal of European Social Policy, 22(2), 133–147.
Vianello, F. A. (2009). Migrando sole. Legami transnazionali tra Ucraina e Italia [Women migrating alone. Transnational ties between Ukraine and Italy]. Milan: Franco Angeli.
Winship, C., & Mare, R. D. (1992). Models for sample selection bias. Annual Review of Sociology, 18, 327–350.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Buonomo, A., Gabrielli, G., Strozza, S. (2020). Former Soviet Union Migration to Italy: Characteristics and Determinants of Women Condition in the Italian Labour Market. In: Denisenko, M., Strozza, S., Light, M. (eds) Migration from the Newly Independent States. Societies and Political Orders in Transition. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-36075-7_18
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-36075-7_18
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-36074-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-36075-7
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)