INTEGRATION OF IMMIGRANTS INTO THE LABOUR MARKET IN EU AND OECD COUNTRIES AN OVERVIEW Brussels, 25 June 2015 Thomas Liebig International Migration Division Directorate for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs, OECD
There is a 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 2
and in the composition of new migration Composition of permanent migration by categories (2012/13) Total = 100 100% 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 3
Lower employment rates of immigrants in most countries Employment rates of the foreign-born Percentage of the population aged 15-64 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 Switzerland Luxembourg New Zealand Norway Canada Australia Czech Republic Estonia United States Hungary United Kingdom Germany Austria Slovak Republic OECD Average Finland Denmark Sweden Portugal Netherlands Ireland Slovenia Poland Italy France Belgium Spain Greece Difference with the native-born Percentage points -20-10 0 10 20 Source: OECD International Migration Outlook 2014 4
Differences in employment rates compared with nativeborn are often large for the high-educated, but less so for the low-educated 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 20 10 0-10 -20 Source: OECD/EU (forthcoming) Cross-country differences for the low-educated are largely driven by differences in the composition by migration category (labour, family, humanitarian) 5
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 6
Ad 1) The returns to foreign qualifications in terms of employment are lower than those to host-country education Employment rate by education level in Europe Native-born Host-country Education Foreign Education 0,4 0,3 0,2 0,1 0-0,1 ISCED 0-1 ISCED 2 ISCED 3-4 ISCED 5 ISCED 6 Source: Damas de Matos and Liebig, in: OECD/EU (2014) 7
...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 Native-born Foreign Education Foreign Education EU27 Foreign Education non-eu27 0,3 0,2 0,1 0-0,1 ISCED 0-1 ISCED 2 ISCED 3-4 ISCED 5 ISCED 6 Source: Damas de Matos and Liebig, in: OECD/EU (2014) 8
The incidence of over-qualification among the employed tertiary-educated is much higher among immigrants with non-eu qualifications 25 20 15 10 5 0 Overqualification rates for tertiary-educated immigrants compared with native-born; by origin of qualifications All foreign-born with host-country education with foreign education with EU education with non-eu education -5 Europe United States Source: Damas de Matos and Liebig, in: OECD/EU (2014) 9
Part of this is associated with lower language and literacy skills Mean literacy scores of 16-34 immigrant and native-born persons by level of education, 2012 Source: OECD/EU (forthcoming) 10
Ad II) 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. 11
Some good practices to facilitate labour market integration of new arrivals Link language acquisition with work experience and provide stepwise introduction into the labour market (Denmark, Sweden) Adapt language courses to the needs of the labour market and to immigrants competence levels (Australia, Denmark, Germany) Focus on the recognition of foreign credentials, both pre- and postdeparture (Australia, Austria, Canada, Germany, Netherlands) Incentives for municipalities to get immigrants rapidly integrated into the labour market (Denmark, Norway, Sweden) Target introduction programmes towards immigrants lacking basic skills (Norway) Work with the social partners (Belgium) Provide mentorship programmes (Denmark, France) 12
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 tailormade 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 Children of immigrants are entering the labour market in growing numbers, and their outcomes are often unfavourable 13
For further information on the OECD s work on integration: www.oecd.org/migration Thomas.Liebig@oecd.org coming soon: 14