Presentation of "Gaining from Migration" to the High Level Conference on Legal Immigration

Mr Angel Gurría, OECD Secretary-General
Lisbon, 13 September 2007
 

Prime Minister Socrates, Commissioner Frattini, Ladies and Gentlemen,

I would like to begin by thanking the Portuguese authorities for inviting me to participate in this High-Level Conference on Legal Immigration, as part of the Portuguese EU Presidency. As many of you know, migration is a major priority of work in the OECD. I am particularly pleased to be speaking to you here in Portugal, a country that is a showcase of interesting and innovative policies on migration.
Before I go into policy details, let me say a few words about the importance of migration for economic growth and development.

Migration to the OECD continues to rise; our 30 member countries together welcome the largest number of immigrants in the world. In 2005, about 4 million new immigrants entered the OECD on a permanent basis, 10% more than in the previous year. The majority of this group arrived to join family members already present in the countries, while roughly a third of the permanent migrants came for work reasons.

Temporary migration too has been high at a stable level of almost two million over the past years.  It is important to note that these figures relate only to documented migration; illegal immigration is significant but, given its very nature, difficult to track.

What are the reasons for these impressive and accelerating migratory flows? Obviously, economic globalisation is one of the prime explanations. This is reflected by the greater diversity of nationalities of migrants. In recent years, more people have been coming from Central and Eastern Europe (notably in the context of EU enlargement), China, India and Sub-Saharan Africa.
 
Population ageing can also explain increasing migration. Some of our member countries are ageing rapidly: Germany, Italy, Spain and Japan, to name a few examples. To face the ageing challenge, increasing labour force participation is crucial.  Immigrants can be part of the solution. Spain, for instance, regularised a large number of immigrants in 2005. These workers not only fill labour shortages in critical sectors but pay taxes and contributions, thus helping to sustain an ageing population. Migration has also given a boost to female labour force participation: Spanish women can more easily combine work and family responsibilities thanks to domestic help provided by migrant women.

But let me add a word of caution here: in order to compensate for population ageing, inflows of migrants would have to be very high over a long period of time. This would pose huge challenges to economic and social integration. Migration can certainly help slow the erosion of population and labour-force levels and alleviate some of the fiscal pressures caused by the demographic transition. But in no case should it give way to complacency and distract from the fact that ageing will require major structural reforms in most OECD countries, if they are to cope successfully with the challenges of ageing.

Among its members, the OECD has several traditional immigration countries but also countries where significant inflows of migrants are a more recent phenomenon.  Portugal, but also other Southern European countries and Ireland, were historically countries of emigration, but this is no longer the case.  Today, entire segments of their economies would not be able to function without immigrants.
 
As I mentioned at the outset, Portugal is an excellent example of the shift from emigration to immigration and other OECD countries can benefit from its experiences. Over the past fifteen years, there were four regularisation programmes. While immigrants used to come from primarily Portuguese-speaking countries, they now include, for example, Ukrainians and Moldovans, as well as citizens from other EU countries such as the United Kingdom, Spain and France. As a result, net migration is now the main component of population growth in Portugal.

I will cite just two areas where measures taken in this country can serve as good practices for other OECD countries to consider: the successful channelling of emigrants’ remittances to support economic development; and the innovative and comprehensive services offered for the reception, orientation and integration of immigrants, both legal and illegal, all under the roof of the High Commission for Immigration and Intercultural Dialogue.

The need for good policy practices is large as managing migration is a delicate task. Once immigrants have entered the country, policies to integrate them and their children into the labour market and society are vital.  Often, immigrants’ qualifications exceed the skill-levels of the jobs they are offered. Foreign education and work experience are largely discounted, as many employers in receiving countries do not recognize or value them. We need better measures to assess foreign qualifications and work experience if host countries want to make use of immigrants’ human capital to everybody’s best advantage. 

It is a sad fact that in many OECD countries female and younger immigrants continue to have great difficulties in integrating in the labour market. This is also the case for the children of immigrants, the so-called “second generation”. In some OECD countries, the rate of unemployment for the second-generation aged 20 to 29 years is up to twice as high as that of their native-born peers. Some of these differences are, of course, due to lower educational attainment, but not all.

Finally, international co-operation in the field of migration and development has to be a priority. And I am happy to say that we are indeed seeing countries place more emphasis on policies addressing this link, for example, in the role of remittances and in the so-called “brain drain” from less developed countries to the OECD.  The latest edition of the International Migration Outlook, our flagship publication on migration, devoted a special chapter to this problem, looking specifically at the topical subject of the migration of doctors and nurses,  that is the international mobility of health professionals. 

The increasing role of migration in economic growth and development and the importance of international cooperation make the OECD a natural forum, and the best laboratory, for the analysis of the many facets of international migration. At the OECD, both member countries and non-member countries come together to discuss a wide range of issues and policies concerning international migration. I have personally taken the initiative of launching a new horizontal project on “Managing labour migration to support economic growth” to identify measures that will increase  the net benefits for origin and receiving countries alike.

In this project, we will look at migration from different angles, ranging from the education and integration of immigrants to matching of skills and labour market needs and fostering economic development in the origin countries. This will entail looking at the best ways to achieve an orderly migration flow management and how to deal fight more effectively with illegal migration and the unlawful employment of foreigners. Special attention will also be paid to an issue I mentioned earlier: brain drain. The health sector can serve to illustrate the magnitudes we are talking about. In some African and Caribbean countries, up to 50% of all health professionals emigrate, professionals who are desperately needed at home. How can we promote a greater mobility of brainpower without jeopardising the development of the origin country? We will seek to end up with firm proposals for these and other issues in order to help countries address the main challenges of migration management.

The OECD’s Development Centre too has an active programme of research on issues related to migration and development. Today, Jeff Dayton-Johnson of the OECD’s Development Centre will provide an overview of the main findings of the Centre’s recent report Gaining from Migration: Towards a New Mobility System, which was funded by the European Commission. 

The report presents proposals to enhance the positive impacts of international migration for EU countries and the migrant-sending countries. You will find detailed suggestions in four domains: policies for European labour markets; policies for the social integration of immigrants in Europe; development co-operation policies that affect migrants’ countries of origin; and finally initiatives for encouraging and mobilising diaspora networks. All these questions are highly relevant for migration everywhere, even if the answers provided focus on the EU.

The age of mobility demands the creation of a mobility system transparent to all users, responsive to the needs of employers, and mindful of the importance of creating welcoming environments. The report conveys the general message that we should be thinking less about immigration systems and more about rebuilding confidence in the international labour mobility system. It proposes reforms to help European governments develop, debate, and decide on legislation related to such mobility.

Switching to this new concept will require policymakers to re-think and adjust their approach to immigration in a number of ways:
• They will have to make it clear to immigrants what is expected of them in the receiving country and, in turn, what they can expect; 
• They must venture to explain and defend national immigration policy to their electorates;
• They must engage with migrants and origin countries as genuine partners in governing the system of international labour mobility.
This sounds good, but in practical terms, what does it mean? Let me give you three concrete examples of what is needed to move to the new concept.

First, integration will always be first and foremost a local affair. Countries must provide all members of migrants’ families with access to the educational system, and to specialised language and other classes, at the earliest possible stage. Only in this way can migrants participate in the economy and society.
Second, receiving countries should align their migration policies with development co-operation policies. In many countries, this will also involve reforming the organisational structures for migration management, both at national and international levels, and to improve communication across ministries and institutions.
Third, migrant organisations should be given financial and technical support in a fair and transparent fashion; they should also be included and heard in the process of making migration and development policy. Ultimately, integration efforts succeed best when they reconcile the immigrants’ needs and interests with those of the broader community in a dynamic process that weaves a new social fabric.
It is our hope that the Gaining from Migration report will encourage a productive debate on the design of effective policies for international migration, in Europe and possibly elsewhere.
 
In conclusion, this High-Level Conference is extremely timely.  It addresses the great challenges posed for both the sending and receiving countries by migration – a human topic par excellence. Your discussions over the next one and a half days, by confronting these challenges, will help enhance our security and extend our prosperity and well-being.