OECD/EU INDICATORS OF IMMIGRANT INTEGRATION: Findings and reflections Meiji University, Tokyo 26 May 2016 Thomas Liebig International Migration Division
Overview on the integration indicators Joint work by the European Commission and the OECD First broad international comparison across all EU and OECD countries of the outcomes for immigrants and their children 34 key indicators on the integration of immigrants and their children, including: Extensive contextual information on the demographic characteristics of immigrants and their children Five main areas of integration: Employment, education and skills, social inclusion, civic engagement and social cohesion 2 special chapters: Third-country nationals in the EU ( Zaragoza indicators ) Youth with a migration background Peer groups of countries which have a similar relative size and composition of the immigrant population 2/32
In the OECD, one person in five has a migration background but only one in 50 in Japan Population share of immigrants and of native-born offspring of immigrants, around 2013 % 70 Immigrants (foreign-born) Percentage of the total population Native-born with at least one foreign-born parent 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 3/32
There is large diversity in the magnitude of immigration flows Permanent inflows to OECD and EU countries, 2003-11 and 2012-13 Annual averages in percentage of the total population 1.8 2012-2013 2003-11 1.6 1.4 1.2 1.0 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0.0 Source: OECD International Migration Database 4/32 4
and in the composition of new migration Composition of permanent migration, by category (2012/13) Composition of permanent migration Total = 100 to the OECD area 2012/2013 100% Free movement Work Family** Humanitarian/Other 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% * 2012 **incl. accompanying family of workers Source: OECD International Migration Database 5/32 5
Migrants category of entry is the most important determinant of outcomes for new arrivals, but there is some convergence over time Employment rate by immigrant category and duration of stay in European OECD countries, 2008 100% International protection Work or study Family 75% 50% 25% 0% Duration of stay (years) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11-14 15-19 The average duration of 5-6 years can be shorter if the economic climate is favourable and integration policy well-designed 6/32
Recent arrivals have problems to integrate in virtually all countries 15 10 5 0-5 -10-15 -20-25 -30 Differences in employment rates of recent (<10 years of residence) and settled (>=10 years) immigrants compared to those of native-born, persons aged 15-64 years old, 2012-13 Settled immigrants Percentage points Recent immigrants Differences in the outcomes of recent arrivals across countries largely reflect differences in the composition of the immigrant intake by migration category 7/32
Differences in employment rates compared with native-born are often large for the high-educated, but less so for the low-educated 20 Employment rates of foreign-born population aged 15-64 and not in education, by education level, 2012-13 Differences with native-born, in percentage points Low educated High educated 10 0-10 -20 Cross-country differences for the low-educated are largely driven by differences in the composition by migration category (labour, family, humanitarian) 8/32
Migrants are often overrepresented at both ends of the educational spectrum Italy Spain Greece France Portugal Turkey Belgium EU total (28) Germany Netherlands Mexico Austria Iceland Sweden OECD total (33) Slovenia Denmark Korea Switzerland Finland United States Chile Luxembourg Norway Japan Ireland United Kingdom Australia Czech Republic New Zealand Israel* Hungary Slovak Rep. Canada Poland Estonia Native-born Percentage of low-educated 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 Canada Israel* Ireland Luxembourg Australia United Kingdom New Zealand Poland Estonia Norway United States Mexico Switzerland OECD total (33) Denmark Sweden Japan Hungary Iceland Belgium Finland France Slovak Rep. Chile Korea EU total (28) Netherlands Portugal Czech Republic Spain Turkey Germany Austria Greece Slovenia Italy Foreign-born Percentage of highly educated 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 9/32
Possible explanations for immigrants lower labour market outcomes I. Issues related to the transferability of qualifications and skills acquired abroad II. Language skills III. Networks and knowledge about labour market functioning IV.Employers attitudes and discrimination 10/32
The returns to foreign qualifications in terms of employment are lower than those to hostcountry education Employment rate by education level in Europe 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0-0.1 ISCED 0-1 ISCED 2 ISCED 3-4 ISCED 5 ISCED 6 Native-born Host-country Education Foreign Education 11/32
...and those to non-eu qualifications are lower than those to EU qualifications at all levels of education Employment rate by education level in Europe 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0-0.1 ISCED 0-1 ISCED 2 ISCED 3-4 ISCED 5 ISCED 6 Native-born Foreign Education Foreign Education EU27 Foreign Education non-eu27 12/32
Host-country language proficiency is an important determinant of outcomes The foreign-born who lack host-country language proficiency are a group with cumulative disadvantages (lower education levels, more likely to have foreign education and to be humanitarian migrants, etc.). But even after accounting for these, they face a 14%-point lower employment rate than other immigrants and an over-qualification rate that is on average 17%- points higher. For labour migrants without language problems, one observes no longer a higher incidence of overqualification. 13/32
Part of the difficulties migrants face are associated with lower language and literacy skills Mean literacy scores of 16-34 immigrant and native-born persons by level of education, 2012 At best basic skills More than basic skills Source: OECD/EU (2015) 14/32
Qualification is not a guarantee of success for immigrants The share of high-educated among the immigrant population has grown by four percentage points since 2006-07 High-educated immigrants face more difficulties in getting a job than their native-born peers and when in employment, those with foreign education face a much higher incidence of overqualification 41% vs. 29% for those with host-country qualification Almost two-thirds immigrants have foreign qualifications As a result, tertiary qualifications do not necessarily protect from poor living conditions 11% face in-work poverty (5% for their native-born peers) 15/32
Low-educated are relatively often employed, but their integration outcomes in other domains tend to be unfavourable High employment rates come often at the price of low job quality The result is a high incidence of in-work poverty (37% vs. 17% for low-educated native-born) and overcrowded housing conditions (29% vs. 11%) Many lack basic skills 32% of immigrants have only basic skills (native-born: 13%) Only half of those employed participate in job-related training, compared with two thirds for their native-born peers This raises the question of employability 16/32
Those with a migrant background account for a large and growing proportion of youth % 60 % Youth with a migrant background* % of foreign-born who arrived as adults* 50 40 30 20 10 0 Note: * 15 34 years old migrant background refers to youth who either immigrated as children or are native-born with at least one immigrant parent17/32
In Europe, offspring of immigrants are twice as often among the most marginalised % Youth (15-34) who are both low-educated and not in employment, education and training (NEET), by origin of parents, around 2013 30 25 Native-born offspring of native-born Youth with migrant background 20 15 10 5 0 Youth with a migrant background have suffered disproportionally from the crisis In some countries, education is a particularly strong driver for integration 18/32
That notwithstanding, native-born offspring of immigrants tend to fare better than their foreign-born peers - but gaps remain Inactivity rate among women, by migration background, persons not in education, 2012-13 50 Native-born with two foreign-born parents (15-34) (%) Native-born with two native-born parents (15-34) Foreign-born entered as adults (15-34) 40 30 20 10 0 19/32
Possible explanations for lower labour market outcomes of immigrants and their children I. Issues related to the transferability of qualifications and skills acquired abroad II. Language skills III. Networks and knowledge about labour market functioning IV.Employers attitudes and discrimination 20/32
There is a high sentiment of discrimination among immigrant offspring in Europe Persons who consider themselves members of a group that is or has been discriminated against on the ground of ethnicity, nationality or race, selected OECD countries, 2002-12 As a percentage of all foreign-born/native-born with two foreign-born parents, persons aged 15-64 and 15-34 40 Foreign-born (15-64) Native-born with 2 foreign-born parents (15-34) 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 21/32
Integration outcomes of immigrants are more cylical than those of native-born Change in unemployment rates of the 15-64 persons by place of birth between 2006-07 and 2012-13 22/32
Focus on Germany and France Both countries are longstanding immigration countries, with significant low-educated migration in the past Outcomes of children of immigrants are unfavourable in both countries But significant improvement in integration outcomes in Germany (in absolute terms and relative to France) over the past ten years, driven by a mix of good economic conditions, higher-educated new arrivals (largely from the EU), policy attention to the issue, and a relatively balanced public discourse at least until recently 23/32
Overview: comparisons across peer groups how do immigrant vs. native differences compare with those in other countries? Australia New Zealand Israel Canada Luxembourg Switzerland United States United Kingdom Austria Belgium Germany France Netherlands Sweden Norway Denmark Finland Settlement countries Longstanding countries of immigration many recent and high-educated immigrants longstanding lowereducated immigrants Destinations with significant recent and humanitarian migration Employment Overqualification Poverty Overcrowding Health Youth: PISA scores Youth: NEET rate current trend current trend current trend current trend current trend current trend current 24 24/32
Spain Italy Portugal Greece Ireland Iceland Estonia Slovenia Czech Republic Hungary Slovak Republic Poland Overview (cont.) New destinations with many recent labour migrants Low-educated High educated Countries with immigrant population shaped by border changes Employment Overqualification Poverty Overcrowding Health Youth: Education (PISA ) Youth: NEET current trend current trend current trend current trend current trend current trend current 25 25/32
New challenges Increasing heterogeneity of immigration flows - both in terms of category (labour, family, free mobility, humanitarian) and skills levels within these categories - requires more tailor-made approaches For immigrants lacking basic skills, significant and long-term investment must be made without immediate pay-off In Southern Europe, many low-skilled labour migrants arrived just prior to the crisis, raising issues of long-term employability and appropriate target groups (i.e. who is likely to stay?) Family migrants who do not depend on benefits are often neglected in integration measures, although they are a key group and the impact extends on their children 26/32
New challenges (cont.) Children of immigrants are entering the labour market in growing numbers, and their outcomes are often unfavourable Large inflows of humanitarian migrants, many of whom traumatized by the experience of war, and their settlement in countries with little experience in dealing with such flows 27 27/32
Conclusions on the indicators For most indicators, immigrant-native differences in any given country are much smaller than the differences between the nativeborn in the top and worst performing countries Although there is no single champion, immigrants in European OECD countries tend to fare less well than immigrants in the OECD settlement countries (Australia, Canada and New Zealand) which also have much higher migrant shares The high proportion of (highly-educated) labour migrants is a main reason why the OECD countries that have been settled by migration fare relatively well on most indicators Indeed, the composition of past migration in terms of category (labour, family, humanitarian) explains most immigrant/native-born differences across countries 28/32
Conclusions on the indicators (cont.) Having a high educational attainment is, by itself, no guarantee for good integration outcomes for immigrants themselves, but it is strongly associated with good outcomes for their children The unfavourable outcomes of the native-born offspring of immigrants in most European OECD countries are linked with the low educational attainment of the generation of their parents Achieving good outcomes for the offspring of low-educated immigrants probably represents the single most important integration challenge facing OECD-countries. 29/32
Integrating immigrants: a framework for policy options 30 30/32
Conclusion: Integration as an investment The vast majority of the foreign-born and their offspring are in employment But much potential remains unused There is no silver bullet and no one-size in integration policy Effective policies do not necessarily come along with high costs to the public purse But some do and here integration must be viewed as an investment Early intervention (for new arrivals and for children) Pursue policies where the pay-off is not immediate (unemployed or inactive; women with children) Access to integration offers should depend on settlement prospects and needs
For further information: EU-OECD Indicators of Immigrant Integration: https://www.compareyourcountry.org/indicators-of-immigrant-integration Contact: Thomas.Liebig@oecd.org