Young university graduates are better off going abroad

Rome, 9 August 2008 - Are Italians really just "big babies" who refuse to grow up and leave home? Well, some may be, but there are also many Italians able to keep up with the times and dive into the sea of global culture. There is a small but growing number of young people who are proving themselves ready, willing and able to grab the opportunities offered by a completely new global scenario.

Increasingly, young people are planning their educational and professional careers outside of Italy. Knowing that they live in an ever-changing world, they are aware of the need to develop relations and gain experiences beyond national borders.

In 2006 a good 14.2% of young Italians between the ages of 15 and 29 could boast of having studied or worked abroad. During the same year, at least 38,690 students were enrolled in foreign universities and more than 16,389 were involved in the Erasmus programme. For some of them, studying abroad then opened the doors to working abroad (3.9% of Italian university graduates are working outside of Italy one year after receiving their degrees).

There are no big differences in terms of grades or the time taken to complete university when comparing those who choose to work abroad and those who choose to remain in Italy (22.1% of the former earned their degrees within the set time period compared with 18.6% of the latter and top grades are reached by 32.2% of the former compared with 26.2% of the latter- table 2). There is, however, a big difference in terms of the professional opportunities offered. In Italy, the most common way of finding a first job is to rely on relatives and friends (12.6%). In contrast, Italians living abroad find a first job by either placing or responding to a newspaper insertion (22.4% with respect to only 9% in Italy). As regards the type of employment found, considering conditions of precariousness to be equal, on average, Italian graduates living abroad are offered higher entrance levels compared with their colleagues who find work at home (32.1% of the former compared with 17.1% of the latter enter at lower or middle management level). The biggest difference between Italy and other countries is the level of salary paid to young graduates. Those willing to leave home are certain to smile whilst those who remain at home find it difficult to move past the threshold of 1,300 euros a month (24.6% earn less than 1,000 euros a month). In contrast, 43% of those working outside Italy earn more than 1,700 euros and 30.4% earn between 1,300 and 1,700 euros.

Moreover, young people are not the only ones to seek their fortune overseas. Individuals well into their adult years are also willing to spread their wings and leave their homeland, especially for work reasons. Knowing how to move at international level is increasingly important to climbing the career ladder and many Italian professionals clearly understand this.

Data regarding the United States, traditionally the favourite destination for highly qualified professionals, confirm this. Between 1998 and 2006, compared with an overall increase of 47.9% in scholarship winners and researchers (in 2006 there were almost 3,000 in the US) there was a 62.1% increase in the number of Italians employed in the US, bringing the overall total of Italians having a temporary US visa to 24,445. Of these, 13,368 are highly specialised workers, middle or upper level managers in international companies and workers who have been granted a visa due to their "extraordinary capabilities or results" .

Table 1 - The number of Italians abroad

Source: Almalaurea, Indire, ISFOL and US Immigration and Naturalization Service data processed by Censis