Integrating immigrants and their children is a major policy concern for many OECD countries. Immigrants represent a sizeable segment of our population: more than one in five persons in the OECD is either foreign-born or native-born with at least one immigrant parent - and this share is expected to grow further. Yet, the outcomes of immigrants lag behind those with native-born parents in all major areas of integration, including the labour market, education, and social inclusion. In addition, immigrants tend to gather in urban and capital city-regions: two-thirds of the foreign-born population in the OECD live in urban areas on average, while asylum seekers seem to be more evenly distributed. Tackling barriers to integration is essential to ensure social cohesion and the acceptance of further immigration by the host country population. Achieving it needs to adopt a territorial approach to take into account the variety of local situations and build appropriate coordination mechanisms with local governments, in charge of 40% of public spending and 60% of public investment on average in the OECD. This session will draw on key lessons from the OECD’s work on integration and summarise the main challenges and good policy practices to support the lasting integration of immigrants and their children. It will provide parliamentarians with facts and evidence on integration outcomes, as well as a number of good practice policy approaches. It will focus on the specific integration challenges faced by persons who migrate for family reasons – the single most important motive for migration in OECD countries – and on good practices to manage integration at the local level.

1. Integration of migrants
Case studies
Parliamentary Network Meeting
11 October 2017
Jonathan Chaloff and Anne-Sophie Senner
International Migration Division, ELS, OECD
Claire Charbit
Regional Development Policy Division, CFE, OECD

2. 2
In the OECD, more than 1 person in 5
has a migration background
Immigrants and native-born offspring of immigrants, around 2014
Percentage of the total population
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
Immigrants (foreign-born) Native-born with at least one foreign-born parent

3. 3
The majority of immigrants are in
employment
Employment rate by country of birth, 2015
Percentage of total population
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Foreign-born Native-born

4. 4
But labour market integration can take a while,
in particular for refugees and family migrants
Migrants’ labour market outcomes by migration category and years of residence in the host
country, European OECD countries, 2014
Percentage

5. 5
What implications for policy?
Some lessons learned
• For those without basic skills integration can entail
significant costs and must be seen as a long-term
investment that pays off over time:
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
German employers that
require at least good
language skills, according to
skill level
Not surprisingly, therefore, having
intermediate language skills increases
employment prospects considerably:

6. 6
What implications for policy?
Some lessons learned
• Early intervention is crucial for future
integration outcomes
Asylum seekers with a high probability to remain should
benefit from up-front support – including language and job-
preparation training and skills assessments
Children of immigrants should receive language support
as early as possible and ideally during early childhood
education and care
Wherever possible, integration support should start prior to
arrival (e.g. general information, language assessment and
training and skills recognition)

7. • Migrants differ in terms of their skill levels, labour market
prospects and family situations and integration offers
need to respond to these different needs:
7
What implications for policy?
Some lessons learned
• Initial skills assessments, including for those without documentation
• Flexible durations of integration programmes
• Modular language training
• Targeted courses for specific groups like illiterate, high educated and mothers
• On-the-job training

8. 8
Family migration is important
• Family migrants are 40% of total permanent
migration inflow to OECD countries.
• In Europe, about 1/3 of intra-European (free movement) migration
is for family reasons
• Together, that means about 2 million people in 2015.
• There are different categories of family migrants: spouses and
partners of nationals and prior immigrants; accompanying family of
workers and migrants; other relatives.
• In many OECD countries, more than 10% of marriages are
between nationals and foreigners, driving a large part of family
migration.
• Compared with other groups of migrants, adult family migrants
integrate slowly into the labour market. In Europe, it takes 20
years to reach employment level of natives.

9. Conditions on family migration may aim to
improve integration outcomes
• Little evidence however that requirements such as minimum language level
lead to better long-term integration in the labour market
• Some requirements (income, language, housing) reduce risk of poverty but
delay reunification, with costs for sponsors and children who arrive later
Housing requirements
Spouses
of
nationals
Highly
qualified
migrants
Family of
foreigners
Income
requirements
Language requirements
Integration commitments
Age limits
Family
of
refugees
Test? Defrayal? Promises?
“Integration Contracts”
Civic education
Minimum spouse age
Maximum child age 9
???
???
???

10. For further information on the OECD’s work on
integration of immigrants and their children:
10
Coming soon :

11. TOWARDS A TERRITORIAL
APPROACH TO MIGRANT
INTEGRATION:
THE ROLE OF LOCAL
AUTHORITIES
11

12. Places Matter:
Presence of migrants across OECD regions
Foreign born distribution across OECD regions, 2014-15
Source: OECD database on immigrant integration at the regional level

13. Distribution of foreign and native born by type of regions, 2014-2015
Source: OECD database on immigrant integration at the regional level
Places Matter: Migrants are relatively more
concentrated in urban regions than native-born

14. • In a number of EU countries, initial
subnational level analytics suggest that
Asylum Seekers seem to be less concentrated
in urban areas compared to migrants and
local residents
14
However…

15. • Perception of migrants’ presence is placed
based: migrants are more likely to be seen as
providing an important contribution to the
local economy in regions with larger migrant
communities and lower unemployment
among natives.
• In urban areas of EU OECD countries
gaps in income and housing conditions
between migrants and natives are more
pronounced.
15
Perception Challenges and Local
Realities

16. 16
Towards 12 objectives for public action
to migrant integration at the local level
I: Multi-
level
governance
1. Improved vertical coordination and
implementation at the relevant scale
2. Policy coherence in addressing
multi-dimensional migrants
needs and opportunities
3. Access to and effective
use of financial
resources adapted to
local responsibilities
for integration
II: Time and
space
4. Design integration policies which take
time into account throughout migrant
life and status evolution
5. Bring along local civil
society to make
proximity with
migrants a reality
III: Policy
formulation and
implementation
6. Capacity and diversity
of public service,
particularly in services
for migrants and
refugees
7. Cooperation with relevant
stakeholders through
transparent & effective
contracts.
8. Assessment of integration and their use in
policy design.
9. Match migrant talents
with economic
opportunities.
10. Secure access to
adequate housing
11. Align social welfare measures
with migrant inclusion.
12. Establish education responses that address
segregation & provide path to professional
growth.
IV: Sectoral
policies
Checklist

17. THANK YOU
Jonathan Chaloff and Anne-Sophie Senner
Jonathan.CHALOFF@oecd.org;
Anne-Sophie.SENNER@oecd.org
Claire Charbit
Claire.CHARBIT@oecd.org
http://www.oecd.org/regional/regional-
policy/migrantintegrationincities.htm