Gaining from Migration: Towards a New Mobility System
This report—a compilation of the main policy lessons and recommendations garnered through the studies, workshops, and conferences conducted for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Development Centre’s Gaining from Migration project—examines the ways in which governments can make the emerging global mobility system work better for European migrant-receiving countries, their developing-country partners, and the migrants themselves.
It urges policymakers to forego outdated restrictive immigration policies, advocating instead for a more versatile system better aligned with the realities of the modern-day transnational labor market. The report advances detailed proposals in four general policy domains: European labor markets, immigrant integration, collaborative development initiatives, and diaspora engagement.
The report recommends that policymakers should, first and foremost, conceptualize legislation related to migration within a framework of global labor mobility, rather than a particular immigration agenda. It contends that intelligent governance of immigrant access to European labor markets will require an integrated migration-monitoring system, a flexible circular migration scheme, admission policy harmonization across European Union member states, and greater legal entry and residency channels for foreign workers. The successful socioeconomic integration of these migrants—according to the report—will ride on policy interventions that eliminate existing barriers to employment, improve educational access, and promote active participation in host-country civic life. In the development and poverty reduction arena, proposed directives include curbing migration-related resource drain from developing countries, integrating diaspora and remittance factors into poverty reduction strategies, and designing institutional mechanisms that facilitate multi-national dialogue and consensus building efforts. Finally, in order to maximize the contribution of diaspora networks, the report prescribes providing financial and technical support to migrant organizations, in addition to incorporating diaspora communities into the policy-making, capacity building, and service delivery process.
I. Introduction: Jobs and Confidence
II. New Migration Thinking for a New Century
III. Migration and Employment: Labour Market Access Policies
IV. Migration and Social Cohesion: Enabling Integration
V. Migration and Development: Partnerships for Mobility Management
VI. Encouraging Migrants’ Networks