Ensuring that labour migration channels function effectively is an ongoing challenge for many OECD countries. While some countries have set policy objectives to reduce or increase overall migration, many others are implementing more detailed and tightly focussed eligibility criteria to determine who is admitted. In the area of labour migration, this means there is a clear trend to link labour market needs directly with labour migration channels. By using evidence to justify international recruitment and talent attraction, authorities ensure that admission decisions align with specific labour market priorities while they maintain public trust in the migration system.
Put simply, countries generally admit labour migrants to address labour market needs that the resident workforce cannot meet promptly and efficiently, while, in principle, managing and limiting potential adverse effects on local workers. Designing admission policies that achieve this balance, however, is complex for several reasons.
First, labour migration lies at the intersection of multiple, and often competing, policy objectives. Governments must respond to immediate labour shortages but increasingly also to address long-term structural demographic shifts. Simultaneously, they aim to promote economic growth and innovation by attracting highly skilled talent without discouraging skills development within the resident workforce. Consequently, the design of admission policies requires a careful weighing of these goals and a constant effort to manage the trade‑offs associated with prioritising one aim over another.
Second, labour migration is the channel over which governments typically exercise the most direct control. Unlike other migration categories, such as family reunification or humanitarian protection, it allows states to make explicit decisions on which individuals to recruit, admit, or reject. Because admitting labour migrants is a matter of choice rather than legal or humanitarian obligation, it often carries greater political salience than other forms of migration. This discretionary power requires governments to be transparent with social partners and the public about their selection criteria and the tools they use to manage flows. Beyond selection tools, governments also operate administrative infrastructure to process admission decisions, and the design of this infrastructure, and the resources devoted to it, is at the discretion of governments.
Finally, temporary labour migration admissions can have long-term implications for the labour force. While most channels initially grant time‑limited permits, many programmes offer pathways to longer-term or permanent residence, subject to certain conditions. The recruitment of foreign workers may also have unintended impacts on incentives to upskill and reskill resident workers, potentially reducing the value and employment outcome of training for residents. Temporary admission decisions may therefore shape the labour market well beyond the duration of the initial permit: through the skills and rights of migrants who remain, and through their influence on investment in the skills of resident workers.
An examination of labour migration channels across OECD countries points to a constant reworking and proliferation of admission channels and of the mechanisms that structure them. Since comprehensive, coherent, and consistent admission policy tools are critical to effective labour migration systems, a cross-country comparison of current practices can directly support policy development. At the same time, each country needs to adapt these tools and practices to its own labour migration objectives and national context.
To facilitate this process, this handbook provides a comprehensive overview of how OECD and EU countries regulate the admission of foreign nationals for labour purposes, examining current policies, key challenges, and innovative approaches in labour migration governance. It aims to help governments analyse the implications and trade‑offs of specific admission policy tools to better design labour migration systems that support their economic and social objectives.
The admission of labour migrants involves a wide range of actors: employers seeking to recruit foreign workers, recruitment agencies and other intermediaries that facilitate matching, public employment services that assess the availability of resident workers, immigration authorities that issue residence permits, and consular officials who examine visa applications in countries of origin. In some systems, social partners also help set the parameters for admission. This handbook seeks to help these actors understand the elements of labour migration architecture, as well as why and how specific policy levers are implemented, how they operate in practice, and how they can be calibrated to achieve their intended outcomes.
This handbook was prepared under the project: “Making Migration Management Work: Making the Decision to Admit Labour Migrants” with the support of the European Commission – Directorate‑General for Migration and Home Affairs. This project was produced with the financial assistance of the European Union. The views expressed herein can in no way be taken to reflect the official opinion of the European Union. The project was funded by the European Union via the Technical Support Instrument, and implemented by the OECD, in co-operation with the European Commission.