Reports

Regional Integration in the Union for the Mediterranean: Progress Report monitors major trends and evolutions of integration in the Euro-Mediterranean region. The Report examines five domains of regional integration, namely trade integration, financial integration, infrastructure integration, movement of people, as well as research and higher education. It presents an original analysis of the patterns and challenges of integration in the Euro-Mediterranean region, which highlights the interdependence of the areas examined – e.g. how to increase regional trade without affordable transport connectivity? The Report offers new insights, based on specific quantitative and qualitative performance indicators that are monitored over time. Almost 100 graphs and tables in the report cover data for the 42 member countries of the Union for the Mediterranean and, when relevant, for partners of the region. The Report includes key takeaways and policy recommendations on how to foster regional integration in each of the five domains.

Informal employment, defined through the lack of employment-based social protection, constitutes the bulk of employment in developing countries, and entails a level of vulnerability to poverty and other risks that are borne by all who are dependent on informal work income. Results from the Key Indicators of Informality based on Individuals and their Households database (KIIbIH) show that a disproportionately large number of middle‑class informal economy workers receive remittances. Such results confirm that risk management strategies, such as migration, play a part in minimising the potential risks of informal work for middle‑class informal households who may not be eligible to social assistance. They further suggest that middle‑class informal workers may have a solvent demand for social insurance so that, if informality-robust social insurance schemes were made available to them, remittances could potentially be channelled to finance the extension of social insurance to the informal economy.

The OECD series Making Integration Work summarises, in a non-technical way, the main issues surrounding the integration of immigrants and their children into their host countries. Each volume presents concrete policy lessons for its theme, along with supporting examples of good practices and comparisons of the migrant integration policy frameworks in different OECD countries. This fifth volume explores the issue of language learning for adult migrants, addressing methods to ensure such training is provided in an efficient and effective way, taking into account migrants’ different starting points and circumstances.

This report analyzes the labor migration trends in Asia and puts them in the context of economic and policy developments and the changes wrought by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. It examines the policy settings in the major origin and destination countries of labor migrants and the medium- and long-term factors that will shape the future of labor migration in Asia. It further provides important recommendations for building back better in a post-pandemic world. This analysis draws partly on discussions that took place at the '10th ADBI-OECD-ILO Roundtable on Labor Migration: Future of Labor Migration in Asia: Challenges and Opportunities in the Next Decade,' held in Bangkok, Thailand, in February 2020, an annual event co-organized by the Asian Development Bank Institute, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, and the International Labour Organization that brings together regional experts and policy makers. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the publication focuses on the pandemic’s impacts on labor mobility. The report offers up-to-date comparative statistics on labor migration flows, including evidence on the impacts of COVID-19 on flows and remittances. Two statistical annexes offer detailed country fact sheets and coverage of intra-Asia and cross-regional migration flows. The report also includes discussions on the future of labor migration in the aftermath of the pandemic and the role of technology and digitalization in labor mobility and its management.

The OECD series Making Integration Work summarises, in a non-technical way, the main issues surrounding the integration of immigrants and their children into their host countries. Each volume presents concrete policy lessons for its theme, along with supporting examples of good practices and comparisons of the migrant integration policy frameworks in different OECD countries. This fourth volume explores the integration of young people with migrant parents, a diverse and growing cohort of youth in the OECD area.

This paper presents the most recent data on the number of migrant doctors in the health workforce in the OECD countries, as well as the impact these regular migration flows have on the countries of origin, including an analysis of the developments since 2000. The objective of this paper is to inform policy dialogue at the national and international levels. The share of migrant doctors has continued to rise over the last two decades across the OECD countries, with around two-thirds of all foreign-born or foreign-trained doctors originating from within the OECD area and upper-middle-income countries. The lower-middle-income countries account for around 30% and low-income countries for 3-4% of the foreign-born and 4% of the foreign-trained doctors. In countries of origin that are large, migration to (other) OECD countries has a moderate impact, but some of the relatively smaller countries or those with weak health systems experience significant losses of (needed) health professionals.

This paper presents the most recent data on the extent to which migrant nurses contribute to the nursing workforce in the OECD countries as well as the impact these regular migration flows have on the countries of origin, including an analysis of the developments since 2000. The objective of this paper is to provide new data for policy dialogue at the national and international levels. The shares of foreign-born or foreign-trained nurses have continued to rise over the last two decades across the OECD countries, with intra-OECD migration making up a third of the migration volume. Regarding the impact on countries of origin, emigration rates to OECD countries are generally moderate but a few countries experience significant losses of (needed) nurses. However, for a significant share of the foreign-trained nurses, the data sources do not allow the identification of the country of training. Hence, some of the results should be treated as lower-bound estimates.