The number of businesses in Italy run
by migrants rose by 42.7% between 2011 and 2022 to a total of
647,797, according to the report 'Immigration and
Entrepreneurship in Italy and Europe' produced by Idos and Cna
and released on Tuesday.
The number of businesses run by Italians fell by 5% over the
same period, the report added.
At the end of 2022 migrant-run businesses represented 10.8% of
the total, up from 2011 in 2011.
Some 77.3% of migrant-run businesses are located in the centre
and north, with the greatest numbers in absolute terms based in
Lazio and Lombardy.
The vast majority (74.1%) of migrant-run businesses are
one-person companies, although the report also noted a an
increase in capital companies over the years.
These now represent 18.4% of the total.
Some 59% of migrant-run businesses operate in the service
sector, with retail accounting for 31.8% of service activities
and construction for 23.9%.
Some 82% of migrant business owners are of non-EU origin, with a
marked predominance of Moroccans (63,000) and Chinese (52,000).
The report said migrant women are "a significant and growing
component of entrepreneurship, representing 24.6% of the total".
They mainly operate in the service sector.
Lastly, 75.8% of migrant entrepreneurs are under 50 years of
age. "Our work shows clearly the considerable advantage for
Italy in promoting and making the system of migrant businesses
in the country as solid as possible, insofar as they constitute
a 'physiological' bridge-network between the Italian economy and
market and the countries and regions of origin of migrant
entrepreneurs," said Idos president Luca Di Sciullo.
The system of migrant-run businesses in Italy has shown "good
resilience even in periods of global crisis" and would "give
strategic international scope to a domestic system that is still
extremely closed, provincial and weak", he added.
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