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Italy : 500,000 immigrants hit by the financial crisis

04 July 2012
Woman
In Italy the financial crisis has delivered a double blow to migrant workers. There are at least 500,000 job losses, but the immigrants have not only lost their jobs. They have also lost their right to live in the country.

The economic crisis is expanding the growth of ​​the informal economy and undeclared work. According to the Italian trade union CGIL, at least 500,000 migrant workers in the country have been laid off in recent months. And when the job disappears, the migrant workers also lose their residence permit. As a consequence, many of them are forced into irregularity and often risk falling into the arms of organised crime, says a representative from the CGIL.

CGIL says that urgent action is needed to stabilise the situation, and sends an appeal to the Italian government and to the parliament, asking for regulations that ensuregive legal rights for migrants that work illegally.

"We can no longer continue to look at immigration as a phenomenon of emergency," says Vera Lamonica of CGIL. "Immigration is a structural phenomenon and it is a resource for the country, given the work the immigrants do, and their contribution to the financing of our welfare system. they contribute much more than they receive."

Read the full message from CGIL (Italian).

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