1 The labour market integration of immigrants: Setting the stage Georges Lemaître & Thomas Liebig Non-Member Economies and International Migration Division Directorate for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs ACIME-OECD Seminar Lisbon, FLAD, 15 June 2007

2 What is at stake r Making the best use of immigrants’ skills and experience r Ensuring equal opportunities and social cohesion r A growing number of immigrants and of their children r Viability of current / future migration policy

3 Taking a human-capital perspective r The human capital of immigrants differs from that of the native-born l Are the skills and experience of immigrants appropriate in the host-country labour market? l If so, are they « equivalent » to those of the native-born – and does this matter? l 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) r Outcomes are generally not as good as for the native- born, but there is great variation r Correcting for educational attainment tends to increase the differences r Category of migration is a key determinant, but outcomes converge over time r Controlling for country-of-origin tends to reduce differences in outcomes between countries r Part of the unfavourable outcomes is due to lack of language proficiency

5 Labour market outcomes and the factors affecting them: immigrants (II) r Foreign qualifications are now largely discounted on the labour market; foreign experience almost entirely r The jobs which immigrants hold are often below their qualification level r The functioning of the labour market matters r Immigrants are more sensitive to economic conditions r Early labour market entry is an important determinant of labour market outcomes in the longer run r 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 r Children of immigrants also have lower employment r The unfavourable outcomes are partly due to lower educational attainment, but employment rates tend to be lower at all educational levels r The earnings also tend to lag behind those of comparable other natives r The second generation generally fares better than young immigrants, and age at immigration matters

7 How can policy respond to these issues?

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

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

11 Employment/population ratios by migration category 6 and 42 months months after arrival, principal applicants, Australia (arrival around 1995, aged at arrival) 6 months after arrival42 months after arrival Employer nominated9895 Skilled points tested6588 Spouse & prospective marriage 3651 Refugee648 All migrants3458 Native-born7576

12 Percentage point gaps in employment/population ratios between natives and the second generation, and not in education