Improving the Labour Market Integration of Migrants and Refugees: Empowering Cities through Better Use of EU Instruments

Cities have played a significant role in addressing Europe’s migration crisis, including by helping migrants and refugees integrate successfully into the local labor market. Cities provide a wide array of critical services to newcomers, including language training, skills assessments and orientation, mentoring and placement services, alternative pathways to employment (such as entrepreneurship), credential recognition, and vocational education and training. Yet funding constraints, differing priorities at different levels of governance, and limited capacity to evaluate and prioritize what works hamper cities’ ability to effectively deliver services.

This MPI Europe report identifies concrete actions that could be taken to better leverage European Union soft law, funding, and knowledge exchange mechanisms to support cities’ activities in this area.

The report was commissioned by the Partnership on Inclusion of Migrants and Refugees, an initiative of the Urban Agenda for the EU, to inform its action plan to improve cities’ access to and use of EU support mechanisms in the area of immigrant integration.