Motivation matters: examining labour market integration across migrant categories in Italy

Abstract One pivotal dimension in differentiating migrants is the motivation driving their decision to migrate. This factor plays a crucial role not only in shaping immediate labour market outcomes upon arrival but also in influencing outcomes over an extended period. Focusing on three distinct categories of migrants—categorised by self-reported reasons for migration (economic/labour, family/reunification, and humanitarian/forced migrants)—this paper provides new evidence on the links between the reason for migration and migrant labour market integration in the Italian context. The analysis explores three key labour market outcomes: the timing of the transition to the first job in Italy, the job quality of the first occupation (if any), and occupational mobility based on the length of stay in Italy. Multivariate regression models (including also Hazard and Heckman selection modelling) applied to individual-level data from the Istat survey 'Social Condition and Integration of Foreign Citizens' (2011–12) identify consistent findings with existing literature, such as lower labour market participation among non-economic migrants and persisting employment gaps over time by motivation. However, results also reveal some peculiarities of the Italian case. While economic/labour migrant women follow the trade-off between high employment rates and low job quality that characterizes the Italian case, family and humanitarian/forced migrants face higher unemployment penalties. Nevertheless, once they enter the labour market, they often experience better job quality compared to economic migrants. Additionally, humanitarian migrant men experience lower chance of upward occupational mobility compared to economic/labour migrants in the first years after migration, but they also show a subsequent convergence that compensates for this disadvantage, although this only becomes apparent a decade after their arrival in Italy.