Migrant women workers receive less pay than men

Giaccone, Mario

Overview

Article

Migrant women workers receive less pay than men

Published: 8 July 2010

Mario Giaccone

Gender equality

Pay and income

The report, Un fenomeno complesso: il lavoro femminile immigrato (in Italian, 1.15MB, PDF) [1] (‘Migrant women at work: a complex phenomenon’), from the Italian National Social Security Institute (INPS [2]) examines the type of work carried out by women migrants to Italy and their pay relative to men up to 2004.[1] http://www.inps.it/news/Il_lavoro_femminile_immigrato.pdf[2] http://www.inps.it

An investigation by the Italian national social security institute (INPS) found a notable increase during the 2000s in the number of migrants in Italy carrying out domestic work. Although the figures provided only go up to 2004, the INPS report highlights the significant increase in migrant women in the Italian labour market and the various pressures leading to the sometimes much lower pay earned by women migrants in regular employment.

The report, Un fenomeno complesso: il lavoro femminile immigrato (in Italian, 1.15MB, PDF) (‘Migrant women at work: a complex phenomenon’), from the Italian National Social Security Institute (INPS) examines the type of work carried out by women migrants to Italy and their pay relative to men up to 2004.

Type of work performed by women migrants

The first migrants in the 1970s were mainly women employed as domestic workers (cleaners and carers) who came from Capo Verde, the Philippines, Somalia, Ethiopia and Latin America. The first arrivals, who were supported by religious institutions, then organised the network for further ‘new arrivals’. The number of male migrants increased rapidly in the 1980s and especially in the 1990s; by 1999, they made up almost two thirds of employed migrants (see figure). Legislation passed in 1999 encouraged male migrants to rejoin their families and so the share of female migrants in regular employment increased, reaching 42.1% in 2004.

Most migrant domestic workers are women: after a dip in share in 1996, by 2004 women accounted for seven out of eight migrants with a regular domestic employment contract. The share of women among migrant workers increased in agriculture from 13% in 1995 to 29.7% in 2004, and among those employed in manufacturing and other private service industries from 22% in 1995 to 29.3% in 2004. The number of women migrants among the self-employed and entrepreneurs declined from 39.6% in 1997 to 30.3% in 2004, especially in handicraft sectors (showing a decline of 17%).

Share of women migrants, by sector, 1995–2004 (%)

Source: INPS, 2009

Employment status of women migrants

There are also differences between men and women migrants in terms of their employment status. There are more men than women employed in manufacturing and private services (86.7% and 49.5% respectively) and working as self-employed (5.2% and 1.5% respectively). Women have a much higher concentration in domestic occupations than men (45.5% and 4.7% respectively), filling over 72% of all regular positions (Table 1).

**Table 1: Migrants by employment status and gender, 2004 (%)**
	Women	Men
Parasubordinates (economically dependent workers)	1.4	1.7
Domestic tasks	45.5	4.7
Employees: manufacturing and private services	49.5	86.7
Employees: agriculture	1.1	1.9
Self-employed	5.2	1.5

Source: INPS, 2009

The INPS report also points out that incidences of undeclared work and underreported working time are widespread. According to a CENSIS report (in Italian, 347Kb, PDF) (2005), 37% of carers work as undeclared employees. A [report (in Italian, 663Kb, PDF)](http://www.qualificare.info/upload/Il lavoro privato di cura in Lombardia.pdf) by the Italian Institute for Social Research (IRS) and Caritas Ambrosiana (2006) states that 619,000 of the approximately 690,000 carers working in Italy are non-nationals. Of these migrant workers, 38% do not have a work permit and 20% do not have a contract for regular employment. Two out of three of them also report working longer hours than they are contracted to.

Origin and pay of women migrants

Table 2 summarises the distribution and pay of migrant workers by geographical area of origin and gender. The areas of Eastern Europe, the Far East, Northern Africa, Central and Southern Africa, and Central and South America show the highest proportion of women migrants – these women are mainly employed in domestic jobs. In particular, women from eastern European countries (Ukraine and Moldova) are concentrated among carers of lone elderly people, while those from the Far East and Latin America are concentrated in domestic jobs and report the lowest pay with respect to groups with higher male employment (mainly in manufacturing and business services industries).

This gender pay gap is particularly striking among migrants from Central and Southern Africa (women earn on average only 54.6% of men’s pay) and Eastern Europe (women earn on average only 55.1% of men’s pay). Among migrants from the Far East, the gap is slightly lower (61.4%) because men are also employed in domestic jobs. For example, there is a 48.7% gender pay gap for migrants from Sri Lanka with men earning on average €9,996 and women just €5,125 a year, and a 36.1% gender pay gap for migrants from the Philippines with men earning on average €9,041 and women €5,780 a year.

**Table 2: Number and annual pay of migrant workers, by geographical area and gender, 2004**
	Men		Women
Geographical area of origin	Number	Average pay (€/year)	Number	Average pay (€/year)	Gender pay ratio (%)
Eastern Europe	328,114	12,389	325,750	6,833	55.1
Western Europe	9,951	20,838	9552	12,025	57.7
Asia – Middle East	11,547	14,901	4038	9,641	64.7
Asia – Far East	157,390	10,364	88,800	6,359	61.4
Northern Africa	223,855	11,770	40,624	7,402	62.9
Central and Southern Africa	44,450	13,575	33,326	7,411	54.6
North America	3,687	28,311	3943	16,169	57.1
Central America	6,174	12,313	17,068	7,297	59.3
South America	53,332	12,261	85,709	7,102	57.9
Oceania	904	23,285	1,106	13,754	59.1
No citizenship	16,641	14,795	15,702	101,073	68.8
Total	856,045	12,167	625,618	7,136	58.6

Source: INPS, 2009

Commentary

Although the INPS report does not give the most up-to-date data, it provides insights on migrant workers with regular employment and looks at both their number and pay by gender and nationality. It captures the start of the phenomenon of migrant carers, which peaked in the 2000s, as a form of private welfare when the family could no longer cope alone.

References

CENSIS, Un nuovo ciclo di sommerso (in Italian, 347Kb PDF) [‘A new cycle of undeclared work’], Rome, CENSIS, 2005.

Mesini, D., Pasquinelli, S. and Rusmini G., [Il lavoro privato di cura in Lombardia (in Italian, 663Kb PDF)](http://www.qualificare.info/upload/Il lavoro privato di cura in Lombardia.pdf) [‘Private carers in Lombardy’], Milan, Istituto per la Ricera Sociale, 2006.

Mario Giaccone, Cesos

Eurofound recommends citing this publication in the following way.

Eurofound (2010), Migrant women workers receive less pay than men, article.