Sir,
with reference to the article “No Italian Jobs” published last week on why Italian graduates cannot wait to emigrate, it could be interesting to note a couple of things.
First, recent data published by ISTAT (the Italian National Institute of Statistics) confirm every year what you exposed on the basis of 10-to-20 years old data: Italian migration flows have been increasing strongly. To the point that, at present, official immigrants registered in Italy and Italian expatriates officially registered abroad both equal 4.2 million people. In both cases, the biggest majority is made of under 40. The ones who arrive are employed by thousands of manufacturing SMEs which constitute the backbone of the Italian economy. Those who live are mostly employed in the Services industry.
Second, the brain drain is indeed not limited to scientific researchers. Young, Italian-educated, Lawyers, Accountants, Doctors, Bankers, Engineers, people in Fashion, Ho.Re.Ca., Tourism and Arts-and-Culture sectors who decide to employ their skills abroad constitute a talent-drain of even more strategic relevance. The Government, though, seems to have fully realized the problem and acted against it. On December 23, for instance, the Parliament finally approved a strategic a comprehensive reform of the University system as well as a new law which extends important tax breaks (70-80%) to under 40 graduates/expatriates who will decide to return to work in Italybefore 2014.
Raffaele Fantetti
(in risposta ad un articolo apparso l’8 gennaio 2011)
19 Gennaio 2011
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