Research Publications

This short briefing paper explores the potential effects of the economic crisis with respect to immigration across European Union Member States, and outlines how policymakers might respond to changing patterns of migrant inflows and outflows, and the consequences of the downturn on immigrants and their host communities.

The global recession’s deepening effects on governments, public and private institutions, and individuals is increasingly taking center stage for migration policy stakeholders at both source and destination countries.

This report looks at E-Verify, the Internet-based employment verification program operated by the Department of Homeland Security in partnership with the Social Security Administration. The program gives employers a means to electronically verify the work eligibility of newly hired employees.

The Middle East and Northern Africa (MENA) and Europe appear to be an ideal demographic match: the former has a large supply of young, active workers, and the latter has a shortage of the youthful, skilled or unskilled labor it needs to sustain its economic competitiveness. MENA is the source of 20 million first-generation migrants, half of them now living in another MENA country and most of the rest in Europe. The region also hosts around the same number within its borders. In addition, the size of MENA’s working-age population will continue to rise sharply in the next two decades while the corresponding segment of the population in Europe will soon start to decline.