employment

• Germany

Changes to the EU Blue Card are set to make it easier to attract highly qualified workers from outside Europe. The new rules also give more rights to beneficiaries and their families.

• Tunisia

Instead of paying human traffickers, increasing numbers of Tunisians are buying their own boats and organizing do-it-yourself ocean journeys to Europe. It appears to be a growing trend.

• Germany
• Syria

Syrians are the main beneficiaries of refugee protection in Germany, yet many are still forced to rely on state welfare to survive. New figures show that only around 35% of Syrians of working age are able to make a living.

• Italy

Foreign-born taxpayers in Italy have paid four billion euros in IRPEF personal income tax, according to the Venice-based Leone Moressa Foundation think tank.

• Senegal
• Spain

A new brand of trainers has hit the market in Spain – designed by migrants who have long been stigmatised for selling fakes on the streets of Barcelona.

• Portugal

Farm laborers from Asia flock to the European country known for its booming agricultural exports. The workers are often brought by gangs of traffickers and are forced to endure inhumane living conditions.

• Belgium
• Germany
• Italy

Eurostat has said that non-EU citizens residing in the bloc had an employment rate of 57.2%, lower than that of national citizens and EU nationals.

• Italy
• Senegal

Two Senegalese fishermen, who have been working legally in Italy for some time on board a fishing boat in Lampedusa, watch surprised as thousands of other migrants file past them in the hope of a better life in Europe.

• Italy

Sicily’s regional government has announced that it will set up a migrant assistance center in every province of the island. The aim: integration between Sicilians and newcomers.

• Côte d’Ivoire
• Italy
• Libya

More and more migrants are crossing the Mediterranean to Italy from Tunisia. The majority of them used to be Tunisian nationals, but this year there are increasing numbers of sub-Saharan Africans on board. Their determination is almost indestructible.

• Italy

Italian agricultural organization Coldiretti said the region of Apulia, in southern Italy, has been assigned 320 additional non-EU laborers for farm work in the region, which is in serious difficulty due to the coronavirus pandemic.

• Italy

Four Italian businessmen and an Indian citizen were convicted and sentenced to prison in Calabria for facilitating undocumented migration. The group allegedly brought non-EU citizens to Italy on fake job contracts.