Romanians in Italy are better educated and more hard working than their Italian counterparts

Some 196,000 Romanian immigrants work legally in Italy, a report of the Italian Statistics Institute shows. Moreover, the document concludes that they are better educated than the Italian average and work longer hours than their Italian counterparts.

Romanians working in Italy are clustered in regions of Lazio, Piedmont, Lombardy and Tuscany and are mainly men, the report informs. Italian statistical data show that 72.3% of the Romanians have a bachelor degree or at least a high school diploma. Romanians even work 41.7 hours as compared to 37.7, the Italian average working hours.

Professionally, Romanians work in industries and only some 23.1% are employed in construction works. However, in these fields most Romanian workers are men. Women tend to work in the domestic and social assistance sector.

Starting with January 1, 2007 some 300,000 Romanians requested and received permanent residence permits. Most Romanians requesting work permits have 18 to 34 years. In 2007, statistical data show that Romanians have doubled their legal presence in Italy as compared to 2002 data.