Gli immigrati ad alta qualificazione secondo il censimento italiano del 2001: occupazione e sottoccupazione

This paper analyzes the population of foreign residents in Italy holding an university or tertiary educational qualification and the job performed by these skilled migrants, in order to verify the eventual presence of the "over-qualification" phenomenon. The data were gathered by ISTAT, in occasion of the 14th General Census of Inhabitants and Houses on 2001. These data show how the presence of skilled immigrants is more common than commonly believed. However, this remarkable amount of human resources is only partially employed, since less than one half of these people have a job corresponding to their qualification level. It turns out that the percentage of over-qualified workers is higher than the average among Italian citizens. Moreover, the penalization in the labor market of immigrants coming from a number of geographic areas and gender discrimination of immigrants in the field of highly qualified employment are also evident.