Recruiting Immigrant Workers: Europe 2016

290 Pages·2016·3.44 MB·English

by  OECD

Recruiting Immigrant Workers
EuRopE
Recruiting Immigrant
The OECD series Recruiting Immigrant Workers comprises country studies of labour
migration policies. Each volume analyses whether migration policy is being used
Workers
effectively and efficiently to help meet labour needs, without adverse effects on labour
markets. It focuses mainly on regulated labour migration movements over which policy
has immediate and direct oversight. This particular volume looks at the efficiency
EuRopE
of European Union instruments for managing labour migration.
Contents
Chapter 1. The context for labour migration in Europe
Chapter 2. How attractive is the European Union to skilled migrants?
Chapter 3. Where does the European Union bring added value in labour migration?
Chapter 4. What have EU labour migration Directives changed and how can
they be improved?
Chapter 5. What is missing from the EU labour migration policy framework?
Chapter 6. Recommendations for EU labour migration policy
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Isbn 978-92-64-25728-3
81 2016 05 1 p

Recruiting Immigrant
Workers:
Europe
2016
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264257290-en
ISBN978-92-64-25728-3(print)
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Series:RecruitingImmigrantWorkers
ISSN2225-7950(print)
ISSN2225-7969(online)
EuropeanUnion
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3
FOREWORD –

Foreword
At a time when the attention of policy makers and public opinion is
so focused on the humanitarian refugee crisis, it might appear odd to
consider issues of legal migration. The urgency of the humanitarian
crisis faced by Europe and the need for a common, bold and
comprehensive response from Member States do not, however, diminish
the importance of addressing the challenges related to the management
of legal labour migration in Europe. This Review of Labour Migration
Policy in Europe seeks to contribute to thinking on one of the current
Commission’s priorities – namely, how best to manage labour migration
in the context of population ageing and the global competition for skills.
Public concern and policy attention with regard to migration have
intensified with the focus on forced migration and co-operation over
asylum and borders in Europe. The European Union’s central migration
management institutions face new challenges, and there is agreement that
they need to be strengthened if they are to provide a concerted, effective
response to the new situation. At the same time, however, the European
Union needs to look at those new challenges in the context of the
growing competition to attract and retain talented migrants. Indeed, legal
migration channels remain a key building block in any comprehensive
migration policy. This review seeks to contribute to efforts to improve
the European legal migration policy framework.
The central objective of labour migration policy is to meet labour
market needs which cannot be satisfied by the domestic labour supply in
a reasonable timeframe without adversely affecting the domestic labour
market and development prospects in vulnerable origin countries.
Although the objective itself can be easily stated, it is a complex matter
to determine the criteria for assessing how successfully policy meets that
objective. It involves evaluating how well labour market needs have
been identified and whether migration has had an impact on the domestic
labour market. Both evaluations are analytically difficult.
RECRUITING IMMIGRANT WORKERS: EUROPE © OECD/EUROPEAN UNION, 2016
4
– FOREWORD

The issues in labour migration to the European Union as a whole
differ from those which impinge on individual Member States, as it has
no powers of decision over admissions and does not directly manage
admission processes and procedures. To date, it has contributed to the
governance of labour migration chiefly through standards and
regulations which it negotiates with Member States to ensure they meet
shared objectives. This review considers how, in accordance with its
mandate, the European Union can improve labour migration
management at the Union level and what it could do to make the EU
more attractive to highly skilled migrants. The review asks the specific
question of how EU rules can help make the EU single market a more
appealing destination for skills and talents. It also explores how the EU
can improve its labour migration framework to meet current and
upcoming challenges against the background of an ageing population.
This review seeks to analyse two key areas in particular:
• the labour migration system’s current policies and the migrant
groups that they address;
• the extent to which the system is capable of responding to the
current and forecast needs of the labour market and safeguarding
it from adverse impact.
The focus is specifically on discretionary labour migration – i.e. the
labour migration movements over which policy has direct, immediate
oversight. It also considers other categories of migration – family
reunification, for example – but only insofar as they influence decisions
to admit workers. As for migrant flows governed by agreements on
freedom of movement – which are substantial in many European
countries – it addresses them only in relation to discretionary labour
migration.
This review is part of the joint project between the Directorate General
for Migration and Home Affairs of the European Commission and the
OECD’s Directorate for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs on
“Review of Labour Migration Policy in Europe”. This document has been
produced with the financial assistance of the European Union. Grant:
HOME/2013/EIFX/CA/002 / 30-CE-0615920/00-38 (DI130895) A.

RECRUITING IMMIGRANT WORKERS: EUROPE © OECD/EUROPEAN UNION, 2016
5
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS –

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This review is the sixth in a series produced by the OECD Secretariat
as a follow-up to the 2009 High Level Policy Forum on International
Migration. This review was written by Jonathan Chaloff and edited by
Ken Kincaid. The OECD Secretariat would like to thank Laura Corrado
of the Directorate-General (DG) Migration and Home Affairs of the
European Commission and her colleagues, especially Laurent Aujean,
Lieven Brouwers, Hélène Calers, Marie Boscher, Maria Brättemark,
Katri Niskanen, Jan Saver and Sebastian Stetter, who worked on
preparing, commenting and revising this review. It draws on background
work by Anda David, Jean-Noël Senne, Flore Gubert, Sankar Ramasamy
Kone, Peo Hansen, Emily Farchy, Friedrich Poeschel, Corinne Balleix,
Sophie Robin-Olivier, Tommaso Colussi. It benefited from valuable
comments from Jean-Christophe Dumont, Stefano Scarpetta, Mark
Pearson, Kees Groenendijk, Jean-Yves Carlier, Marco Manacorda and
Pawel Kaczmarczyk. Additional analysis was provided by Cansin
Arslan, Marianne Gierow, Véronique Gindrey and Jongmi Lee.
RECRUITING IMMIGRANT WORKERS: EUROPE © OECD/EUROPEAN UNION, 2016

7
TABLE OF CONTENTS –

Table of contents
Assessment and recommendations ......................................................................... 13
Executive summary ................................................................................................ 25
Chapter 1. The context for labour migration in Europe .................................... 29
The context behind labour migration in Europe is one of disparity
across Member States .......................................................................................... 30
A common expectation of future skill needs ....................................................... 33
The political context: What is EU labour migration policy and where does it
originate? ............................................................................................................. 36
Why Member States see added value in co-ordinating labour migration at the
EU level ............................................................................................................... 59
The limits of intervention..................................................................................... 60
The policy development cycle at the EU level is very long ................................. 68
Notes ................................................................................................................... 71
Bibliography ....................................................................................................... 75
Chapter 2. How attractive is the European Union to skilled migrants? ........... 79
The position of the European Union in migration flows to OECD countries ...... 80
The European Union is the single leading destination for international
students ................................................................................................................ 98
Surveys of entrepreneurs and executives show a mixed profile
of attractiveness ................................................................................................... 99
Many EU residents perceive their countries as good places for migrants ......... 101
The European Union is a destination of interest for potential migrants ............ 102
Notes ................................................................................................................. 113
Bibliography ..................................................................................................... 114
Chapter 3. Where does the European Union bring added value in labour
migration? ............................................................................................................ 117
What is added value in labour migration initiatives at the EU level? ................ 118
Attractiveness to migrants.................................................................................. 118
Increasing mobility ............................................................................................ 120
Increasing retention ............................................................................................ 128
RECRUITING IMMIGRANT WORKERS: EUROPE © OECD/EUROPEAN UNION, 2016
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– TABLE OF CONTENTS

Improving matching systems ............................................................................. 129
Avoiding duplication in the recognition of foreign qualifications ..................... 130
Attractiveness for employers ............................................................................. 131
A single labour market test for a single labour market ...................................... 133
Co-operation with third countries ...................................................................... 139
Simplification for compliance ............................................................................ 142
Leveraging competition and preventing a race to the bottom ............................ 142
Summarising factors of attraction and the value of EU intervention ................. 143
Notes ................................................................................................................. 145
Bibliography ..................................................................................................... 147
Chapter 4. What have EU labour migration Directives changed
and how can they be improved? ........................................................................ 151
Introduction ........................................................................................................ 152
Students Directive: Promote the EU as a world centre of excellence
for studies ........................................................................................................... 152
The Researchers Directive: A new fast-track permit in many Member States ..... 159
The Single Permit Directive: Simplifying and harmonising the rules ............... 166
The EU Blue Card: Almost invariably a new permit category .......................... 172
How does the Blue Card compete with national schemes? ............................... 178
The Seasonal Workers Directive ....................................................................... 204
The Intra-Corporate Transfer Directive ............................................................. 205
What have the Directives discussed changed? ................................................... 207
What are the next possible policy options? ........................................................ 211
Notes ................................................................................................................. 217
Bibliography ..................................................................................................... 220
Annex 4.A1. Labour market mobility for EU Blue Card holders ....................... 223
Chapter 5. What is missing from the EU labour migration policy
framework? .......................................................................................................... 227
A broad pool of candidates ................................................................................ 228
A general recognition system............................................................................. 231
Sectors not yet covered under the sector-based approach .................................. 233
Horizontal approach ........................................................................................... 254
Notes ................................................................................................................. 264
Bibliography ..................................................................................................... 265
Chapter 6. Recommendations for EU labour migration policy ....................... 269
Systemic recommendations ............................................................................... 270
Make the Blue Card more effective and attractive ............................................ 278
Boost added value for participating countries.................................................... 280
RECRUITING IMMIGRANT WORKERS: EUROPE © OECD/EUROPEAN UNION, 2016