COVID-19, Employment, and (the Limits of) Legal Status: Exploring Migrants’ Precarious Experiences in Italy

The pandemic has had an unequal impact on the lives of Italian citizens. Italy, one of the worst-affected countries in Europe, has seen the most vulnerable and marginalized populations among the hardest hit by the pandemic’s secondary effects. The various intersecting forms of vulnerability, risk, and precarity have significantly affected the lives of Italian migrants. Evidence from 25 semi-structured interviews and conversations with social workers who work with migrants and various migrant groups, including naturalized citizens, EU long-term residents, and work permit holders, show that they face various livelihood problems, including employment precarity. It is argued that possessing a stable legal status does not automatically ensure access to welfare benefits, secure, reliable, high-quality, and permanent employment, nor does it exempt individuals from exploitative experiences in the job market, especially during crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic, due to systemic structural inequality and barriers.