Italy: integration of Ukrainian refugees in VET and the labour market

So far, more than 120 000 people who fled from Ukraine have arrived in Italy. Almost 94 000 have applied for a residence permit with the Police Headquarters. Almost all applicants have requested temporary protection on the grounds of Directive 2001/55/EC, activated specifically to cope with the Ukraine emergency.

Accommodation and measures for unaccompanied minors

The Government supports each refugee with the amount of EUR 300 (plus EUR 150 for each minor) per month for a trimester, for all those who have found independent accommodation. The Decree-law 21/2022 introduced a new system of ‘widespread reception’ providing funding for Ukrainian refugees and assigning a key role to organisations, voluntary associations and religious institutions. In this context, the Italian Civil Protection has issued a call for expression of interest for institutions and associations to receive public funding related to the widespread reception system. The applicant organisation or association must guarantee, in addition to food and accommodation, help with school and work integration, legal guidance, linguistic literacy and psychological/social/health assistance. 

Decree No 876-13/03/2022 appointed a commissioner for unaccompanied minors. The commissioner is to coordinate all actions aiming to  assist unaccompanied minors from Ukraine and has already drafted a Plan for unaccompanied foreign minors. 

Learners and schools, skills and training, professional qualifications

Education institutions are responsible for the sensitive process of reception of school-age refugees and for ensuring their access to educational and training services, in order to guarantee that all learners may continue their education or training in the Italian school system. Networks of Ukrainians living in Italy have been activated to assist with the assignment of minors to education institutions. In cities with a large number of migrants the hub- schools may be used to ensure better integration of Ukrainian minors in local education institutions, to provide information to students and families and to support education institutions in the enrolment and preparation of personalised learning paths for Ukrainian learners.

The Regional School Offices will ensure collaboration with the Government in managing the reception and assistance of the population from Ukraine according to the guidelines by the Department of Civil Protection.

For a first profiling of the skills of refugees from Ukraine, the use of the EU Skills Profile, as a free multilingual tool of the European Commission, is promoted. Several actions provide for targeted skills assessment activities, useful for identifying a training course aimed at insertion, basic training in the Italian language and the fundamentals of Italian culture and civic education, or a path of vocational training, depending on the skills assessment. Training courses have been activated to reduce the mismatch of skills, thus easing refugees’ transition to work, and supporting their social inclusion. Financial incentives for those who enter training include attendance allowance and reimbursement of the cost of food, accommodation and transport. In some cases, welfare services for Italian workers have been extended to include refugees attending a training course (e.g. reimbursement for psychological assistance, reimbursement for the purchase of basic goods for newborns, contribution for nursery school expenses and for educational support). These activities are promoted by public and private institutions and associations and financed thought public and private funds.

For all the Ukrainian young people and students arriving in Italy, a new section providing information and didactic materials, regulatory references, notes, circulars, and operational guidelines has been prepared on the education ministry website.

Regarding professional qualifications, Legislative Decree 21/2022 provides for a derogation from the legal framework on the recognition of professional health qualifications for Ukrainian doctors, nurses and social health worker who were resident in Ukraine before 24 February. Those who have a European refugee qualification passport can be employed in public or private health institutions or social health facilities under fixed-term contracts, collaboration contracts or as freelancers.

Labour market

Access to work is one of the rights granted with a request for European temporary protection provided by Directive 2001/55/EC. As foreseen by the Civil Protection decree No 872/2022, with a sole request for residence permit filed at the Police Headquarters and linked to temporary EU protection, Ukrainians will be able to work both as hired (including seasonal) and as autonomous workers. All this in derogation of the numbers included in the flows decree, which regulates the access to work in Italy of non-EU citizens every year.

Main challenges and risks

The challenges and risks in integrating Ukrainian refugees into VET and the labour market could vary. The main risk that could arise is that of potential exploitation; extensive information on refugees’ rights and opportunities is therefore needed, especially for those who start looking for a training opportunity or job.

Information, useful links and quantitative data

Further information and resources available for Ukrainian refugees, teachers, trainers, and other professionals are accessible through the following links:

• Ministry of the Interior
• Ministry of Education
• Ministry of Labour and Social Policies 
• Quantitative data, such as number of refugees in Italy, are available through dashboards and maps created by the Department of Civil Protection of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers
• A dedicated dashboard provides data on entries into Italy on a daily basis. Based on daily checks carried out by the Border and Railway Police, it is possible to view the total number of people from Ukraine entering Italy and the division between adults and minors. The dashboard uses data provided by the Ministry of the Interior. It is also possible to view numbers of people who have applied for temporary protection, their subdivision by age group and the distribution of requests by region and province: