Gudrun Biffl Ageing of migrants: a challenge for the individuals, the economy and society Lifelong Learning - Equal opportunities for mature workers Workshop 3: Vocational training of mature migrant workersLeipzig, 20 March 2006

Key Notes for discussion in the workshop Challenges for the individual migrant in terms of employment opportunities, accreditation of prior learning, access to (further) education and training and to funding, language proficiency, social contacts with host society and own ethnic/cultural group… Challenges for economic integration due to educational attainment level, occupational skills and regional concentrations and thus mismatch of skills supplied and demanded Formal / informal sector jobs … Challenges for the society due to sheer numbers (size and concentration/Ghettos?), degree of diversity of migrant communities (ethnic and cultural mix), capacity to communicate (language barriers) Poverty …

Europe has become an important immigration area Some EU-MS (Austria, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden) have a percentage of immigrants at least as high as the United States, i.e., approximately 12% of the population are foreign-born. Luxembourg and Switzerland have even higher shares, close to or higher than 20% (the majority from the EU), not dissimilar to the traditional immigration countries Canada, Australia and New Zealand. The percentage of foreign-born exceeds 10% in most old, and in some Southern European MS (Belgium, France, Ireland, Greece). Also the new MS in the East are attracting increasing numbers of migrants, the leading country being the Czech Republic with 4.5% foreign-born in 2001.

Foreign born as a proportion of the total population in selected OECD countries: 2001 S.: OECD-SOPEMI.

The role of migrants in the socio- economic development of the EU Lisbon Agenda and ageing have important implications for further education and training of migrants, many of them mature workers Raising immigration cannot counter the negative effect of population ageing on economic growth Strike a balance between migration and trade in view of the surplus of un- and semiskilled immigrants – immigration in Europe is increasingly less demand driven and more supply driven (chain migration and family reunification, humanitarian intake).

The challenge of older migrant workers for the economy and the individual Public policy has to be cognizant of the economic environment older migrant workers are facing: manufacturing industries, which tended to be the major employers of migrants upon arrival, are restructuring due to technical change and relocation of production in a value added chain. Job losses hit above all blue collar workers, often of mature age and with migrant background. Given that increased trade is overall welfare enhancing, equity considerations suggest that policies have to be put in place to compensate the losers from increased internationalisation of production by facilitating adjustment to the new needs. Adaptation of labour market skills are one way to go, another is to provide incentives to employers to employ more unskilled workers, and earned income tax credits to raise the income of the working poor. A policy mix is needed which promotes flexible work arrangements while at the same time raising the employability through vocational training

The challenge of vocational training for the individual Often recognition of the skills from prior learning abroad or from on the job training in the host country does not suffice to get a job because: the labour market does not call for these skills, there is an oversupply of these skills; the communication skills needed to exercise the task may not be sufficient, discrimination has to be overcome

Training Measures at the Workplace Age management can work if a policy mix is put in place, which facilitates flexibility while at the same time ensuring employment and income security for the worker by: By progressively removing seniority pay from those whose productivity no longer improves with age and experience. By offering further education and training and/or co- financing it, as it may promote the employability of older workers By ensuring a healthy workplace and by implementing preventive health care thereby prolonging the work ability.

Education and training raises the adaptive capacity of the workforce Should enterprises not provide and finance sufficient further education and training for mature migrant workers, public cofunding is called for as the social rate of return to training is higher than the private return to the enterprise and individual Often management as well as mature workers do not see much sense in further education and training for older workers as the company tends to have invested in them until they reached their personal capacity limits, given the jobs and production processes at company level (limits to vertical and lateral careers particularly in SME) The chances of re-employment depend crucially upon the skills of migrants and employment opportunities in the formal sector

Governance structure of LLL for natives and migrants Coordination between policy and execution at federal, province and local level The vocational training measures differ in scope, depth as well as funding They vary according to the role of migration in socio-economic development of the region/country, the extent of humanitarian migration, and the migration pattern and dynamics in general

The role of NGOs in vocational training provision NGOs may be key partners in the planning of training measures and the identification of training needs. In addition, they are important partners of public administration in organising training initiatives and implementing training measures. Multicultural associations may act as a bridge between public administration, migrants and host communities, if they have intercultural and professional competence. NGOs/NPOs may help mature migrants and their families in the region to access mainstream as well as targeted training measures. The intercultural competence of the association may also be accessed by public institutions. The integration of NGOs into training networks promotes the expertise and professionalism of training providers; they may also be helpful in accessing EU co-funding of vocational training.

Contracting out Training to NGOs According to NGOs, training can be organised most effectively by contracting out various activities from public institutions to NGOs. Good Practice examples of education and training measures in Austria, which can be effectively outsourced to NGOs, are bilingual occupational education and training measures, as well as helping to address health issues of migrants, particularly mature migrant men and women, as intercultural expertise tends to be higher in migrant associations than in traditional public sector institutions.

Network of institutions to connect the migrants and their skills with facilitators to promote employment The focus of the network is on mature migrants. Their tasks are: 1: to render the skills of migrants visible (with or without accreditation), 2. to build on their skills and integrate them into an education and training programme which fills in, where certain skills are lacking either as far as the requirements in the original profession are concerned or for another profession/trade which builds on the acquired skills and competences. 3.to certify the adapted professional skills and help get into a job –recruitment centre/cluster of firms who tend to take graduates from the college.

The challenge of social integration To overcome linguistic and cultural differences through intercultural education and training of the host and migrant communities To overcome communication barriers/transaction costs by developing one-stop-shops to bridge barriers to accessing various public institutions / interface Intercultural training of service providers for migrants, provision of jobs for migrants at the interface to help migrants at one-stop-shops (to help find housing, adequate care, further education and training, jobs, subsidies, immigration laws, recognition of skills, prior education and training, diplomas,…)

The challenge of combatting informal work The reduction of clandestine work will remain a major challenge as long as the informal sector is large and growing. There is a risk of permanent de-skilling of the workers who are effectively excluded from formal employment. This may seriously impair the productive potential of EU-MS with high informal sectors and the capacity to provide comprehensive social protection. Reduction of individual costs of structural adjustments by developing a system of lifelong learning to take off the pressure on wages and/or unemployment to adjust to the occupational and sectoral shifts in labour demand will profit above all mature workers, in particular older migrants

Growth of the informal economy in % of GDP in Western Industrialised Countries: S.: Schneider/Enste, 2000; Schneider, 2003; Institut der deutschen Wirtschaft Köln.