The Labour Market Integration of Immigrants and their Children: a series of OECD country reviews

Presentation of the project | Contents of the documents
Publication | Download the country studies | Seminar

Jobs for Immigrants, Volume 2: Labour market integration in Belgium, France, the Netherlands and Portugal

The second volume of the publication Jobs for immigrants has just been released. This publication presents reviews of the labour market integration of immigrants and their children in four OECD countries (Belgium, France, the Netherlands and Portugal) and provides country-specific recommendations. It also contains a synthesis report.

Presentation of the project

The OECD is currently carrying out country studies on the labour market integration of immigrants and their children (the second generation). Studies for Australia, Denmark, Germany and Sweden are already available on line. The OECD published in June 2007 these four first reviews, together with a synthesis chapter highlighting the main findings and recommendations. A second publication with studies for Belgium, France, the Netherlands and Portugal has been published in November 2008, and it is also intended to review the integration of immigrants in Switzerland and Norway in 2009.

In most countries under review, the factors affecting the labour market integration of immigrants and their children have been the object of extensive research. These include, among others, knowledge of the host-country language; familiarity with institutions and work and labour market practices; duration of stay in the host country; qualifications and their recognition; recourse to family or friends; initial labour market experience; discrimination, etc. The relative importance of each of these factors will vary according to immigrant characteristics and circumstances, national institutions and policies and labour market conditions. In some cases, governmental and non-governmental programmes and policies, properly designed, can enhance the facilitating factors and help offset those that impede integration.
The aim of this project is to:

• examine what is being done, at national, regional and local level;
• determine if programmes and policies in place are effective, in the light of the observed outcomes;
• identify where policy efforts should be directed to best further the goal of labour market integration (language training, recognition of qualifications, job-search assistance, early labour market entry, etc);
• identify best practices in each country, with a view to their adaptation and adoption between the countries, to improve and innovate current policies.
  

Contents of the documents

History of immigration

An overview of migration into the host country over the past decades, its particularities relative to other countries, the nature of the migration regime, the relative magnitude of the different types of migration.

Presentation of the key actors and overview of programmes aimed at facilitating the integration of immigrants into the labour market

Targeted programmes that address special immigrant needs, as well as regular programmes aimed at the general population, adapted for immigrants. The programmes and initiatives reviewed are those which prepare, orient or introduce the immigrant to the labour market.
Local initiatives or practices of special interest to identify particular areas or initiatives where there has been a significant positive impact on integration into the labour market of recent immigrants relative to the “average” national performance.

Diagnostic of the current situation in international comparison

Presentation of empirical results from the literature and analysis of country-specific data in international comparison, giving the current situation with respect to integration into the labour market and the relative strength of the various factors affecting the integration process with a particular focus on groups who appear to have problems (recent arrivals, low skilled migrants, immigrant women…). Outcomes of second generation (young native-born with foreign background) are presented when data is available for identification of this group.
For some countries, a longitudinal analysis of immigrant and second generation integration into the labour market has been possible. In this respect, some important factors for labour market integration have been highlighted, among which the initial labour market experience seems to be crucial.

Recommendations

Each review ends with a series of recommendations of best practices and suggested improvements and innovations for future integration policies.

Publication Jobs for Immigrants, Vol 1

The first volume of the publication Jobs for immigrants has been released in June 2007. This publication presents reviews of the labour market integration of immigrants and their children in four OECD countries (Australia, Denmark, Germany and Sweden) and provides country-specific recommendations. It is the first in a series which eventually cover some ten OECD countries. It also contains a synthesis report.

The country studies can be downloaded:

 Australia

Download the document

2008 Update on recent developments provided by the Australian authorities

Denmark

Download the document

Download the Press release: Denmark makes a great effort to tackle major integration task, says the OECD

2008 Update on recent developments provided by the Danish authorities

Germany

Download the document

Key findings on the whole publication and a special focus on Germany (in German)

2008 Update on recent developments provided by the German authorities

Sweden

Download the document

2008 Update on recent developments provided by the Swedish authorities

 

Seminar

A seminar on the integration of immigrants into the labour market, jointly organised by the Portuguese authorities and the OECD took place in Lisbon on 15 June 2007.

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