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Counting immigrants and expatriates : a new perspective

(Published in « Trends in International Migration » OECD 2005)

Jean-Christophe Dumont and Georges LemaîtreDirectorate for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs, OECD

ECE-Eurostat Seminar on International Migration, Geneva 21-23 March 2005

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• Concerns related to the international mobility of the highly skilled :

• Limited availability of statistics on expatriates, especially by level of education and occupation

• Problems in the comparability of immigrant stocks

- among OECD member countries - from developing countries

Rationale for the project

OECD Directorate for Employment Labour and Social Affairs, DELSA

Background

Methodology Immigrants and expatriates

Next steps

3OECD Directorate for Employment Labour and Social Affairs, DELSA

An international database on Foreign-BornData collection and compilation

• 29 OECD National Statistic Offices and OECD

• Observers : UN Statistics Division, Eurostat, European Commission, ILO, UNECEData collection and compilation

• Data are mainly from OECD population censuses and population registers

• Data were compiled on : - Immigrant population in OECD countries - Expatriate population from all countries to OECD countries - Migrants by origin / destination and educational attainment

Background Methodology

Immigrants and expatriates

Next steps

4OECD Directorate for Employment Labour and Social Affairs, DELSA

DefinitionsThe immigrant population

• A literal definition => persons who have immigrated into their current country of residence => persons born abroad

Includes persons born abroad as nationals of the current country of residence Takes no account of possible past migration movements of persons currently resident in their country of birth Does not include native-born persons of immigrant parents

• Alternative definition => the foreign population Classification of persons can change Confounded by possibility of multiple citizenships Does not necessarily reflect a migration movement

Background Methodology

Immigrants and expatriates

Next steps

5OECD Directorate for Employment Labour and Social Affairs, DELSA

DefinitionsReference population

• Usual residents by detailed country of birth, nationality and nationality at birth

Working rule for countries of birth

• People born in states or territories belonging to the country of residence are considered as “native-born”

Education level (population 15+)

• Less than upper secondary (ISCED 0/1/2)

• Upper secondary and post secondary non-tertiary (ISCED 3/4)

• Tertiary (5a/5b and 6)

Background Methodology

Immigrants and expatriates

Next steps

6OECD Directorate for Employment Labour and Social Affairs, DELSA

Limits

• Data on stocks represent the cumulative effect of net migration flows over past decades

• Imperfect, heteregenous and unknown coverage of certain categories of migrants : undocumented migrants, temporary migrants, asylum seekers …

• Some persons with unknown country of birth and/or educational level

• Specific hypotheses for some countries (Japan, Korea, Germany)

• Problems for decomposed / recomposed countries of origin

Background Methodology

Immigrants and expatriates

Next steps

7OECD Directorate for Employment Labour and Social Affairs, DELSA

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• Statistics on foreign born population in OECD countries provides a new -and more accurate- picture of migration

Background Methodology Immigrants and expatriates

Next steps

23.0

19.3

1.2

5.6

7.0

4.2

5.3

12.3

  Percentage of Percentage foreign born of foreigners

AUS

CAN

CZE

FRA

GRC

NLD

SWE

USA

7.4

5.3

4.5

10.0

10.3

10.1

12.0

6.6

8OECD Directorate for Employment Labour and Social Affairs, DELSA

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• A significant share of foreign born in OECD countries originate from other OECD countries (36.3 million people or 46% of all foreign born)

Foreign-born by region of origin in OECD countries, percentages

Note: "Other Europe" and "Other Africa" include data for not stated European countries andnot stated African countries, respectively.

Source: Trends in International Migration , OECD, 2005.

Oceania1%

Caribbean7%

Europe40%

North and South America

22%

Africa9%

Asia21%

North Africa45%

Other Africa55%

Other Asia81%

China and Chinese Taipei19%

Latin America87%

North America13%

Other Europe

37%EU2563%

Background Methodology Immigrants and expatriates

Next steps

9OECD Directorate for Employment Labour and Social Affairs, DELSA

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Expatriates as a percentage of all native-born, OECD countries Total population and highly skilled

0.0

5.0

10.0

15.0

20.0

25.0

JPN

USA

KOR

ESP

AUS

FRA

NOR

TUR

SWE

BEL

FIN

MEX

CAN

DNK

DEU

NLD

HUN

POL

GRC

CSFR CHE

PRT

AUT

GBR

LUX

IRL

NZL

Total population Highly skilled

• The incidence of expatriation varies substantially from one country to another

Background Methodology Immigrants and expatriates

Next steps

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Emigration rate of highly skilled 15+ and emigration rate of population 15+ for non-OECD countries

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

0 20 40 60 80

emigration rate of 15+

Emigration rate of highly skilled 15+

OECD Directorate for Employment Labour and Social Affairs, DELSA

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• Highly skilled international migration is an important part of all migration flows

Native-born Foreign Born Expatriates

CAN 31.5 38.0 40.0

CHE 18.1 23.7 38.4

FRA 16.9 18.1 40.4

HUN 10.7 19.8 30.0

KOR 26.7 32.2 43.6

NZL 27.0 31.6 42.9

SWE 22.8 24.2 38.9

USA 26.9 25.9 47.2

Percentage of persons with tertiary education in selected OECD countries

Background Methodology Immigrants and expatriates

Next steps

11OECD Directorate for Employment Labour and Social Affairs, DELSA

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• Asia, Europe and Africa are the major regions of origin for highly skilled

Distribution of highly skilled expatriates by region of origin

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

Asia EU25 Africa Southand

CentralAmerica

OtherEurope

Caribbean NorthAmerica

Oceania OECD

Background Methodology Immigrants and expatriates

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12OECD Directorate for Employment Labour and Social Affairs, DELSA

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• Within the OECD area, only eight countries are net beneficiaries from the migration of the highly educated ...Ratio of net highly skilled migration within OECD to total

highly skilled population in OECD countries

-15

-10

-5

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

IRL

POL

NZL

HUN

GBR

PRT

MEX

FIN

NLD

AUT

GRC

DEU

DNK

TUR

BEL

FRA

NOR

ESP

SWE

USA

CAN

CHE

AUS

LUX

Background Methodology Immigrants and expatriates

Next steps

13OECD Directorate for Employment Labour and Social Affairs, DELSA

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• … but, as whole, most OECD countries benefit from the international mobility of the highly skilled

Background Methodology Immigrants and expatriates

Next steps

Immigrant and emigrant population 15+ with tertiary education in OECD countries Thousands

-1500

-1000

-500

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000Highly skilled immigrants from all countries

Highly skilled emigrants to other OECD countries

"Net" highly skilled migrants

8204

14OECD Directorate for Employment Labour and Social Affairs, DELSA

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Country.shpNot available1 - 34 - 89 - 1920 - 83

Source: see Annex 1, Secretariat calculations based on Cohen and Soto (2001) for highly skilled stocks in countries of origin.

Map 1. Percentage of expatriates to OECD countries among all highly skilled born in the country• Some countries, especially in the Caribbean and in

Africa, face significant emigration rates of their elites (sometimes exceeding 50%)

Background Methodology Immigrants and expatriates

Next steps

15OECD Directorate for Employment Labour and Social Affairs, DELSA

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Background Methodology Immigrants and expatriates

Next steps

• The database is available online on the OECD websitewww.oecd.org/document/16/0,2340,en_2649_33931_33865936_1_1_1_1,00.html

• The next phase of the project involve collection of more detailed information on demographic (gender, age, duration of stay) and labor market variables (employment status, occupation, sector of activity)

• Data to be used for studies on specific occupations (e.g. Health; ICT; Education)

• Extending the database to selected non-member countries ?