Covid-19, Employment, and (the Limits of) Legal Status

Exploring Migrants' Precarious Experiences in Italy

Bibliographic Data

ID3757249
AuthorsDotsey (0000-0002-2164-1734, Interuniversity Department of Regional and Urban Studies and Planning (DIST), University of Turin, Italy, corresponding author), Martino Bozzi (0009-0003-6879-4732, University of Milan), Sebastiano Pala (0009-0006-2996-2432, University of Milan)
Year2025
Publication date2025-09-18
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Behavioral Scientist (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0002-7642 • E-ISSN: 1552-3381
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/00027642251367532
OpenAlexW4414345002
LanguageEN
References cited42

The pandemic has had an unequal impact on the lives of Italian citizens. Italy, one of the worst-affected countries in Europe, has seen the most vulnerable and marginalized populations among the hardest hit by the pandemic's secondary effects. The various intersecting forms of vulnerability, risk, and precarity have significantly affected the lives of Italian migrants. Evidence from 25 semi-structured interviews and conversations with social workers who work with migrants and various migrant groups, including naturalized citizens, EU long-term residents, and work permit holders, show that they face various livelihood problems, including employment precarity. It is argued that possessing a stable legal status does not automatically ensure access to welfare benefits, secure, reliable, high-quality, and permanent employment, nor does it exempt individuals from exploitative experiences in the job market, especially during crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic, due to systemic structural inequality and barriers

Face (sociological concept) · Inequality · Informal sector · Livelihood · Precarious work · Precarity · Social protection · Welfare · Work (physics) · Workfare · Employment and Welfare Studies · Migration and Labor Dynamics · Social Policy and Reform Studies

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