According to the Labour Ministry’s 2025 report on the Bangladeshi community, the employment rate of Bangladeshis in Italy is 60.7%, in line with the non-EU average (61.3%). But the figure hides a huge gap: 83.8% of men work, and only 11.4% of women.
Sectors
- Hotels and restaurants: 32.0%
- Industry: 25.3% (metalworking, shipyards, manufacturing)
- Retail: 22.8%
- Transport and business services: 10.3%
- Agriculture: 4.6%
The most common job category is clerk, sales assistant or personal-services worker (40.6%).
Short contracts
In 2024 there were 172,966 hires of Bangladeshi workers, 8.3% of all non-EU hires — 77.8% on fixed-term contracts. In the same year 149,302 jobs ended. It is a sign of a very mobile market where people change jobs often.
Unions and protection
About one Bangladeshi worker in six belongs to a union (12,540 members out of about 79,000 workers), more than half with CGIL. Unemployment is 6.5%, but rises to 21.8% among women.
What the numbers tell us
Training, Italian language skills and recognition of qualifications are the levers for moving from insecure jobs to more skilled work — and for opening the labour market to women.
