The Health of Foreign Workers in Italy

Abstract

At the beginning of 2002, there were 1,600,000 foreign-born persons living in Italy; the majority from countries outside Europe. Those residing in the country for working purposes were 800,680. Italy's shift to a tertiary and service-oriented economy has considerably modified the working market, concentrating demand at two extremes: on one hand, a highly specialized workforce, and on the other, a totally unqualified, mobile, and flexible one, which includes most immigrants.