Around one worker in ten in Rome is non-Italian, according to a report released by city authorities statistics office. Some 75 per cent of the 155,000 foreigners resident in Rome are in employment compared to the 62 per cent figure for the city as a whole, the report revealed. The foreign workforce is also younger than the average for the city: 69 per cent of non-Italian workers are under 44, compared to 55 per cent of Italian workers. The majority of foreign workers are women, 53 per cent of the foreign workforce, against 46 per cent of Romes workforce as a whole.

The report highlighted the fact that the apparently dynamic nature of the foreign workforce compared to that of the capital in general is partly a result of non-Italians being prepared to take on jobs that Italians felt were beneath them. Only 3 per cent of graduates in Rome as a whole do manual work or jobs that require no qualifications, but 25 per cent of foreign graduates are employed in these fields. Around 50 per cent of Romes foreign workforce hold a high school diploma or university degree.

The top three largest employment sectors for foreigners in Rome are domestic and family (accounting for 52 per cent of the non-Italian workforce), hotel and restaurant (13 per cent) and construction (9 per cent).