Fifty Years of Italian Emigration in Germany: Labour Market and Migration Policies

This article takes its lead from the anniversary of the labour hire agreement signed between Italy and Germany in 1955. On the basis of this agreement, and of the subsequent choices in German migration policy, Italian emigration to Germany has remained essentially temporary, following a rotation model. Nevertheless, Italians represent the most numerous immigrant group in Germany after the Turks. In the fifty years that have passed since the beginning of Italian emigration to Germany, the Italian community there has not only significantly grown, but has also shown a radically modified social and demographic composition, going through a process of integration and, to some extent, of upward social mobility. Nevertheless, it also faces serious problems, especially in the case of the juvenile component. Young Italians meet with serious difficulties at school and the rate of unemployment amongst Italian youth is higher than amongst their German counterparts. These problems are in part imputable to deficiencies in German and Italian migration policies and, in particular, the rotation model, which has kept Italian families in conditions of uncertainty, with no clear prospects for the future.