While the current migration situation continues to stir up politics, the OECD has published a report titled “Better Integrating the Most Vulnerable Migrants” to learn from the challenges that arose from the influx of refugees faced by Europe.
While the current migration situation continues to stir up politics, the OECD has published a report titled “Better Integrating the Most Vulnerable Migrants” to learn from the challenges that arose from the influx of refugees faced by Europe.
An “Imaginary” Crisis
Immigration is a global phenomenon. Every year, approximately 5 million new immigrants arrive in OECD countries.
Between 2014 and 2017, asylum seekers represented 0.5% of the French population. In the last two years, France has registered 100,000 asylum applications, of which only 35% were accepted.
In 2018, the EU witnessed 139,000 arrivals on its territory, including 65,000 in Spain (also arrivals from Venezuela and Colombia), and 23,000 in Italy. “It is therefore no longer just an Italian matter,” asserts Christophe Dumont, head of the International Migration Division at the OECD. “Spain alone has received as many migrants via the Mediterranean route as Greece and Italy combined.”
These numbers need to be put into perspective. In the last 16 months, Colombia alone has recorded more than a million Venezuelan refugees, with over 800,000 already regularized.
However, the influx of migrants in Europe, which can no longer be termed a crisis, has paved the way for populist parties to exploit the situation.
Marine Le Pen in France, Matteo Salvini in Italy, Viktor Orbán in Hungary, Theo Francken in Belgium, all have chosen to demonize immigration for electoral purposes even though, since 2015, economists agree that migration flows are positive for the economy.
Despite the short-term costs that their arrival may entail, refugees have a neutral or positive impact on the economy. “The additional workforce that refugees represent is in some cases seen as a way to reduce the worker shortage in the context of an aging European labor force,” assures the OECD.
Immigration, the Scapegoat
The recent influx of refugees took place while many European countries were recovering from a deep economic crisis and were still facing very high unemployment rates. In this context, public perception has not always been positive, with some fearing negative effects on wages or employment, especially among low-skilled workers.
“We must not forget that we are emerging from a major economic crisis and are looking for outlets for the situation we find ourselves in. Immigration is one of them. But the factors of discontent are more generalized than those attributed to immigration,” explains Christophe Dumont.
In its report Better Integrating the Most Vulnerable Migrants, the OECD shows that in Italy, the employment rate for low-skilled individuals is higher among immigrants than locals. “We are touching on something sensitive that can create tensions, but in reality, immigration is not the problem, as Italians seek better jobs than immigrants. It’s the labor market that isn’t working well,” continues the expert.
Low-skilled immigrants have a higher employment rate than native-born Italian workers. In France, the employment rate for immigrants is lower in both cases: among low-skilled immigrants (5 percentage points less) and highly skilled immigrants (12 percentage points less).
