Italy is considering a plan to oblige migrants and refugees to work while their asylum applications are processed, amid alarm over the large number of people arriving by boat from Libya in spite of harsh winter weather.

Italy is hosting around 175,000 migrants and refugees, who languish in reception centres for months or even years while their asylum requests are dealt with by an overwhelmed bureaucracy.

Boredom and lethargy are big problems for the migrants, most of whom are young and keen to do something with their time.

They often end up being exploited – in Sicily, young West African men are paid a pittance to pick fruit and vegetables, while young women are forced to prostitute themselves by the roadside to pay off debts incurred from their journeys through the Sahara and across the Mediterranean.

Marco Minniti, the interior minister, will present a plan in parliament on Wednesday by which migrants and refugees will be required to perform “socially useful” work while their claims are assessed, possibly as a condition to receive a weekly living allowance.