Sicily May Have The Weather, But Milan has the Foreigners

Welcome to Italian Class! I’m an experienced private language tutor operating in the Chicago area, offering lessons in your own home or here on site.

• Read about my qualifications and background here.
• Check out services and prices for private and group tutoring.
• Browse the collection of links to learn more about Italian language and culture.
• Write to me at SpringfieldItalian@gmail.com with any questions or feedback!
• Call me at (217) 299 – 9199 to speak personally about setting up your perfect lesson.  ________________________________________________________________________________

Influx of Foreigners Help Boost Italian Populations – Majority Are Staying Up North

– Thinking of heading to Italy? Join the club. A new report out this week from the Italian National Statistics Board ISTAT cites the number of foreigners who just this year have permanently settled in the country to be at almost half a million for 2009 alone.

Okay, so streets in Milan don't quite look like this. . .but a bad economy and an influx of foreigners are making finding a job in anywhere in Italy even tougher.

According to ISTAT, this new load of 458,644 new residents brings the total numbers of foreigners living in the country to 3.8 million, or just over 6% of their population. Compared to some places like Dubai, which has over 75% of it’s population non-native, this may seem to be small potatoes.

But when you start to consider the living and working restrictions for Americans in Europe, any competition isn’t great news. (COMING to the blog SOON: Getting a work visa for Italy – real possibility? What you need to know about making the jump.)

ISTAT states that 29% of foreign residents in Italy are citizens of other European Union countries, meaning they’ll get first shot after Italians for any jobs. American’s tend to rest far down the totem pole in the visa hierarchy, getting slots after Italian, EU citizens and any other countries that have special relationship with the European Union; countries like Canada, Australia and New Zealand all offer a precious ‘working holiday visa’ arrangement that allows them job slots before Americans.

Despite their leg up over their American counterparts in finding Italian employment, these foreigners seem to be playing it safe in these tough economic times, opting to live in the less climate-controlled but more job-heavy northern regions, with 62% putting down roots in the industrialized North and only 4% choosing to stake their luck on the warm weathered, but economically battered islands of Sicily and Sardinia. Only a fraction, 9%, of foreigners live anywhere in the South, where jobs are more scare and English heard less frequently.

So while Sicily may have the weather (and, in my opinion, the food – just eat with my friend Maria), Milan has the foreigners, and it looks like, for now, the jobs.

UPCOMING:  Check back tomorrow for notes on the long-standing North/South divide from an expat’s point of view and later in the week a 2-part post on the real deal on getting an Italian work visa.

___________________________________________________________________________________________

Interested in Learning Italian? Live in the Chicago area?

Contact Aimee!

• Read about my qualifications here.
• Check out services and prices for private and group tutoring.
• Browse the collection of links to learn more about Italian language and culture.
• Write to me at SpringfieldItalian@gmail.com with any questions or feedback!
• Call me at (217) 299 – 9199 to speak personally about setting up your perfect lesson.

Photo courtesy of Flickr user James Cridland.