1

The labour market integration of immigrants:

Setting the stage

Georges Lemaître & Thomas LiebigNon-Member Economies and International Migration Division

Directorate for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs

ACIME-OECD SeminarLisbon, FLAD, 15 June 2007

2

What is at stake

Making the best use of immigrants’ skills and experience

Ensuring equal opportunities and social cohesion

A growing number of immigrants and of their children

Viability of current / future migration policy

3

Taking a human-capital perspective

The human capital of immigrants differs from that of the native-born

Are the skills and experience of immigrants appropriate in the host-country labour market?

If so, are they « equivalent » to those of the native-born – and does this matter?

What means are available to immigrants to « transmit » / « communicate » their skills and experience to employers?

4

Labour market outcomes and the factors affecting them: immigrants (I)

Outcomes are generally not as good as for the native-born, but there is great variation

Correcting for educational attainment tends to increase the differences

Category of migration is a key determinant, but outcomes converge over time

Controlling for country-of-origin tends to reduce differences in outcomes between countries

Part of the unfavourable outcomes is due to lack of language proficiency

5

Labour market outcomes and the factors affecting them: immigrants (II)

Foreign qualifications are now largely discounted on the labour market; foreign experience almost entirely

The jobs which immigrants hold are often below their qualification level

The functioning of the labour market matters

Immigrants are more sensitive to economic conditions

Early labour market entry is an important determinant of labour market outcomes in the longer run

Generally, there are problems to get into the labour market, but good wage progression once employed

6

Labour market outcomes and the factors affecting them: children of

immigrants

Children of immigrants also have lower employment

The unfavourable outcomes are partly due to lower educational attainment, but employment rates tend to be lower at all educational levels

The earnings also tend to lag behind those of comparable other natives

The second generation generally fares better than young immigrants, and age at immigration matters

7

How can policy respond to these issues?

8

How can policy respond to these issues?

9

Differences in the employment/population ratios between native and foreign-born 15-64 years old, 2004/2005 average

-15

-10

-5

0

5

10

15

20

25

Men

Women

10

Employment/population ratios by qualification level in Belgium, 15-64, women, 2001

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

Native-born Non-EU-15 foreign-born,qualif ications obtained in Belgium

Non-EU-15 foreign-born,qualif ications obtained abroad

Low Medium High

11

Employment/population ratios by migration category 6 and 42 months months after arrival, principal applicants, Australia

(arrival around 1995, aged 15-64 at arrival)

6 months after arrival

42 months after arrival

Employer nominated

98 95

Skilled points tested 65 88

Spouse & prospective marriage

36 51

Refugee 6 48

All migrants 34 58

Native-born 75 76

12

-10%

-5%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

men

women

Percentage point gaps in employment/population ratios between natives and the second generation, 20-29 and not in

education