Immigrants and their native-born children account for 1 in 5 of the population in OECD countries. The recent joint OECD-EU publication „Settling In“ provides the most comprehensive overview of their integration outcomes ever undertaken and covers all major domains (labour market, education, social inclusion). The presentation summarises the key findings and concludes with good practices and policy recommendations to better use the skills of immigrants and children, with a special focus on the integration of refugees.

1. Thomas Liebig
International Migration Division
Directorate for Employment, Labour and
Social Affairs
Settling In
OECD-EU Indicators of Immigrant
Integration and related OECD work
Paris, 1 October 2015

2. In the OECD, one person in five has a migration
background
Population share of immigrants and of native-born offspring of immigrants, around 2013
Percentage of the total population
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Immigrants (foreign-born) Native-born with at least one foreign-born parent%

3. Recent arrivals have problems to integrate in
virtually all countries…
Differences in employment rates of recent (<10 years of residence) and settled (>=10 years)
immigrants compared to those of native-born, persons aged 15-64 years old, 2012-13
Percentage points
Differences in the outcomes of recent arrivals across countries
largely reflect differences in the composition of the immigrant intake
by migration category
-30
-25
-20
-15
-10
-5
0
5
10
15
Settled immigrants Recent immigrants

4. …and this holds in particular for refugees
Employment rate by immigrant category and duration of stay in European OECD countries, 2008
0%
25%
50%
75%
100%
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11-14 15-19
Duration of stay (years)
International protection Work or study Family
The average duration of 5-6 years can be shorter if the economic
climate is favourable and integration policy well-designed

5. Differences in employment rates compared with
native-born are often large for the high-educated, but
less so for the low-educated
Employment rates of foreign-born population aged 15-64 and not in education,
by education level, 2012-13
Differences with native-born, in percentage points
Cross-country differences for the low-educated are largely driven by
differences in the composition by migration category (labour, family,
humanitarian)
-20
-10
0
10
20
Low educated High educated

6. In Europe, offspring of immigrants are twice as
often among the most marginalised
Youth (15-34) who are both low-educated and not in employment, education and
training (NEET), by origin of parents, around 2013
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
Native-born offspring of native-born Youth with migrant background
%

7. There is a high sentiment of discrimination among
immigrant offspring in Europe
Persons who consider themselves members of a group that is or has been
discriminated against on the ground of ethnicity, nationality or race,
selected OECD countries, 2002-12
As a percentage of all foreign-born/native-born with two foreign-born parents, persons aged 15-64 and 15-34
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
Foreign-born (15-64) Native-born with 2 foreign-born parents (15-34)

8. The scoreboard: comparisons across peer groups
- How do immigrant vs. native differences compare
with those in other countries?
8
Settlement
countries
Longstanding countries of immigration Destinations with
significant recent
and humanitarian
migration
many recent and
high-educated
immigrants
longstanding lower-
educated immigrants
Australia
NewZealand
Israel
Canada
Luxembourg
Switzerland
UnitedStates
UnitedKingdom
Austria
Belgium
Germany
France
Netherlands
Sweden
Norway
Denmark
Finland
Employment
current
trend
Overqualification
current
trend
Poverty
current
trend
Overcrowding
current
trend
Health
current
trend
Youth: PISA scores
current
trend
Youth: NEET rate current

9. Scoreboard (cont.)
9
New destinations with many recent
labour migrants
Countries with immigrant
population shaped by border
changesLow-educated
High
educated
Spain
Italy
Portugal
Greece
Ireland
Iceland
Estonia
Slovenia
CzechRepublic
Hungary
SlovakRepublic
Poland
Employment
current
trend
Overqualification
current
trend
Poverty
current
trend
Overcrowding
current
trend
Health
current
trend
Youth: Education
(PISA )
current
trend
Youth: NEET current

10. • Increasing heterogeneity of immigration flows - both in terms of category (labour,
family, free mobility, humanitarian) and skills levels within these categories - requires
tailor-made approaches
• For immigrants lacking basic skills, significant and long-term investment must be
made without immediate pay-off
• In Southern Europe, many low-skilled migrants arrived just prior to the crisis, raising
issues of long-term employability and appropriate targeting (i.e. who is likely to stay?)
• Family migrants who do not depend on benefits are often neglected in integration
measures, although they are a large group – and the impact extends on their children
• Children of immigrants are entering the labour market in growing numbers, and their
outcomes are often unfavourable
• Large inflows of humanitarian migrants and their settlement, including in countries
with little experience in dealing with such flows
1
0
New challenges

11.  Act soon after arrival: early labour market integration and integration
into the school system is crucial for long-term success
 Place refugees where the jobs are – and not where cheap housing is
available
 Acknowledge that refugee’s needs differ with their skills levels –
there is no «one size fits all»
 Start the integration process with a stock-taking of the skills of
refugees and build up on these skills
 Link language training with on-the-job experience
Integrating refugees –
Key issues from OECD work to consider

12. 12
Selected key OECD work on integration:
OECD-EU Indicators of Immigrant Integration:
https://www.compareyourcountry.org/indicators-of-
immigrant-integration
Further information: Thomas.Liebig@oecd.org
…the Integration of the Children of Immigrants
… Country Studies
… Immigrant Entrepreneurship
… Naturalisation and Integration Outcomes