Nearly one in four new hires last year was of foreign origin. In 2025, this ratio increased to 23.2% from 20% the previous year, while the total number of new hires, 1.36 million, more than doubled from 670,000 in 2019. The numbers also show sharply divergent trends depending on the sector. In the agricultural sector, foreigners comprised 42.9% of new recruits, while the proportion remains significantly higher in the textiles, clothing, and footwear sector (41.8%) and construction (33.6%). Chefs, kitchen assistants, dishwashers, and waiters top the list with 231,380 new hires, followed by housekeeping workers (137,330) and those in agriculture and groundskeeping with 105,540 new hires, if we concentrate on absolute figures. According to figures from the Leone Moressa Foundation, Italy has just under 2.2 million non-EU workers. The highest incidence is recorded in Emilia-Romagna, where foreign workers account for 17.4% compared to EU workers, and in Tuscany and Lombardy (16.6%). Prato is the Italian province with the greatest percentage of foreign workers among new hires, at 55.5%. Gorizia and Piacenza follow with 39.7% each, Matera with 36.4%, and Bolzano with 35.1%.