Reports

The 2020 edition of International Migration Outlook analyses recent developments in migration movements and policies in OECD countries and some non-member countries, and looks at the evolution of the labour market outcomes of immigrants in OECD countries. It includes a special chapter on the impact of migration on the structural composition of the economy. It also includes country notes and a statistical annex.

For many OECD countries, how to ensure the safe and dignified return to their origin countries of migrants who do not have grounds to remain is a key question. Alongside removal, return and reintegration assistance have become an integral part of the response. Development cooperation is expanding its activity to support the capacity of countries of origin to reintegrate all returning migrants. Sustainable Reintegration of Returning Migrants: A Better Homecoming reports the results of a multi-country peer review project carried out by the OECD, with support from the German Corporation for International Cooperation (GIZ) on behalf of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). It examines factors that can help improve the sustainability of reintegration at the individual level and at the programme level in countries of destination and origin. The report examines how casework and community-based programmes can increase uptake and improve outcomes. It identifies key elements of an effective individual reintegration programme, including outreach and counselling, case management and referral, and partnerships. The report makes proposals about how to improve programme design, evaluation, and monitoring, indicating areas where countries could co-operate more in implementation of programmes and in coordination with origin countries.

OECD societies have become increasingly diverse in the past decades, offering new opportunities if diversity is properly managed. Ensuring that OECD countries are equipped to make the most of diversity by fully utilising all talent among diverse populations and promoting inclusive labour markets is a key challenge. Both businesses and governments are responding to this challenge with policies to strengthen the inclusion of diverse groups in the workplace and labour markets. This report considers five key groups who are widely considered disadvantaged in the labour market and society at large and who often face discrimination based on their group membership: immigrants, their descendants and ethnic minorities; LGBT people; older people; people with disabilities; and women. It assesses: i) how the inclusion of these groups in OECD labour markets has evolved over time, ii) the evidence on how diversity affects economic outcomes; and iii) which policies countries have implemented and what is known about their effectiveness.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the gendered impacts of climate change in the Sahel. In particular, it explores the ways in which gender inequality is a critical factor in understanding vulnerability and resilience efforts concerning climate change. It shows that the current climate crisis is affecting livelihoods throughout the Sahel in pronounced ways. In a region highly dependent upon subsistence agriculture and pastoralist livelihoods, climate variability and environmental degradation have made such livelihoods difficult to sustain, the effects of which have broad ranging impacts on social and economic systems. Consequently, migration, livelihood adaptation, social unrest, and political instability emerge from the ecological challenges the Sahel is facing. Those with the resources to respond to and prepare for future climate events will be better equipped to navigate the climate crisis. Unfortunately, those resources are rarely equally distributed at the household, community, and state levels. In particular, gender inequalities within the Sahel pose a very real challenge for adaptation and resilience strategies as states and global institutions make interventions to support at risk populations. The paper then explores what development and state institutions are doing to resolve gender inequity through climate resilience policy, and where these efforts are falling short. The paper concludes with some strategies to improve opportunities for gender equity and climate resilience based on field research within the Sahel.

This report analyzes labor migration trends in Asia and puts them in the context of demographic and policy trends. It provides an overview of the population trends in different Asian countries and looks at policy settings in several sending and destination countries of labor migrants. It examines different approaches to effective labor migration management, including the imposition and regulation of fees and costs, and reviews the relevant policies in Asia and the Pacific. The report also looks forward to new approaches, examining the concept of skills mobility partnerships and how existing migration channels in Asia could be innovated using this concept. The chapters reflect the discussions that took place at the 'Ninth Roundtable on Labor Migration in Asia: Innovative Approaches for the Effective Management of Labor Migration in Asia,' held in Tokyo in February 2019. The event, co-organized by the Asian Development Bank Institute, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, and the International Labour Organization, brought together regional experts and policy makers. The report provides the most up-to-date comparative statistics on labor migration flows in and from Asia. The introductory chapter reviews the recent regional trends and newly available data on the changes in the stock of Asian migrants, while two statistical annexes offer detailed country fact sheets and coverage of intra-Asia and cross-regional migration flows.

The German vocational education and training (VET) system is admired around the world for its ability to prepare young people for skilled employment. In Germany, VET smooths transitions into work and is closely aligned with labour market demand. This report focuses on an unprecedented test of the German VET system: how to respond to the significant increase in migrants who arrived in the country in 2015-16. The study explores both the opportunities and the challenges presented by migration. Germany has already devoted significant attention to VET as a mechanism for enabling integration – and for good reason. Work-based learning assists integration because it demonstrably gives learners skills that employers want in real-world settings. The report assesses the barriers faced by learners in their journeys into and through VET, exploring how such challenges can be addressed. In addition, the study looks at system-wide issues in relation to how VET provision and integration policy is governed. Lastly, it explores opportunities for increased flexibility in the German VET system of relevance to all youth at risk of not succeeding in VET. In responding to migrant needs, German VET can become more inclusive without reducing quality.

Transforming natural finite assets into human, social and physical capital is a key challenge for natural resource-rich countries. This report distils related lessons from the OECD Policy Dialogue on Natural Resource-based Development on natural resource revenue management and spending for sustainable development. This includes a guide on how natural resource-rich countries can ensure budget sustainability to support consistent spending over time. Further analysis focuses on the management of spending versus saving and the effectiveness of different spending mechanisms for sustainable development, making recommendations to address current challenges.

Among the millions of asylum seekers who recently arrived in OECD countries, the majority are young people who may be able to take advantage of vocational education and training (VET) opportunities to help them enter skilled employment. This report provides advice to governments and other stakeholders who are seeking to use VET to promote integration, in particular for young humanitarian migrants. While the study draws particularly on policy and practice observed in Germany, Italy, Sweden and Switzerland, it also highlights other international practices. The report focuses on the main channels through which migrants succeed in VET. It is essential that migrants are fully informed about the opportunities VET provision offers and that they have access to high quality preparatory programmes enabling access to upper-secondary VET. Once in such provision, targeted support should help them to complete VET programmes successfully. OECD countries are putting in place innovative measures to achieve better outcomes for both migrants and for economies as a whole. Ultimately this report argues that VET systems can become stronger, more flexible and more inclusive, when working better for all students, including those with diverse and vulnerable backgrounds.