Employment and life satisfaction among refugees and asylum seekers in Italy: evidence from the ItRAS Survey

Abstract

Employment plays a crucial role in promoting integration by providing autonomy and stability – factors especially critical for forcibly displaced individuals. It is also positively linked to overall life satisfaction. This study, drawing on data from the first Italian Refugees and Asylum seekers Survey, explores their life satisfaction, examining its relationship with employment outcomes and their structural barriers and socio-economic supports through a mediation model. The analysis reveals that employment outcomes are significantly and positively associated with life satisfaction. In contrast, poor health, low Italian language proficiency, and a lack of local social support networks are negatively associated with well-being, while the presence of a family network in Italy and receiving subsidies are positively related. Moreover, employment outcomes mediate the effects of most barriers and facilitators on life satisfaction. These results provide a contextualization of the Italian territory of refugees and asylum seekers’ life satisfaction.