Bangladeshi Migrants’ Attitudes in Italy and European Countries: An Economic Perspective

Abstract

This research article examines the economic motivations, labour market trajectories, and social attitudes of Bangladeshi migrants residing in Italy and, where relevant, across other European contexts. Anchored in the leading strands of migration scholarship—neoclassical economics, the new economics of labour migration (NELM), human capital models, segmented labour market theory, and world‑systems approaches—the paper synthesises secondary evidence, peer‑reviewed studies, and author‑compiled qualitative vignettes to analyse how household strategies interact with institutional architectures to shape migration decisions, remittance behaviour, and integration pathways. To visualise differences in opportunity structures, the study introduces a heuristic ‘Integration & Opportunity Index’ (0–10 scale) spanning four dimensions: (1) legal pathways and regularisation, (2) wage levels and enforcement, (3) skills/credential bridging, and (4) financial inclusion. Using Italy, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom as comparative cases, the analysis suggests that although Italy functions as an accessible entry node with dense migrant networks, prolonged legal precarity and segmentation into low‑wage services can erode expected utility over time. By contrast, countries with clearer regularisation channels and strong skills‑bridging systems (for example, Germany’s vocational education and training architecture) tend to support more predictable earnings and financial inclusion. Policy recommendations emphasise timely regularisation, enforcement against wage theft, targeted language/credential recognition, and portable protections.