International Organization for Migration (IOM)

Improving Access to Labour market Information for migrants and employers
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development advice) are expected to have skills in place to support the communities
in the areas that they are servicing. This suggests that in theory at least, there should
be more support to third-country nationals in areas of larger/more homogeneous
than in smaller/more heterogeneous migrant concentrations. While telephone advice
lines are in a variety of spoken languages, Internet services are mostly or exclusively
in English.
In theory at least, service provision that is personalized to individual needs will
provide services and outcomes that are better than a ‘one size fits all’ approach.
Reference has been made above to specialist services to support migrants/ethnic
minorities, often provided by community organizations. Recession and public
spending cuts have placed pressure on the voluntary sector, especially in relation to
employment, welfare and housing issues. On the one hand the services provided by
Migrant and Refugee Community Organizations (MRCOs) (in both employment
support and other policy domains) are under increasing pressure, yet at the same
time they are heavily reliant on external funding from statutory and independent
sources (Migrant and Refugee Communities Forum, 2011). Hence, there are
concerns that at a time of austerity equality issues might be compromised. Similarly
contracted-out service provision can be particularly prone to low-level resourcing as
funders/prime contractors seek to minimize contract costs, and MRCOs providing
employment-related services are dealing with a shift from grant funding towards
service commissioning (including payment by results contracts).
Mentoring is one of the options that may be used by public employment service
contractors and community organizations to facilitate access to opportunities for
third-country migrants. Albeit not exclusive to, or necessarily designed for, thirdcountry
migrants, for those with the necessary digital skills, social networking may
be one way to extend networks and so facilitate access to opportunities. An example
of such an initiative is Backr, 139 which uses information and communications
technologies to foster personal connections. It works on the principle that users can
connect informally with other individuals who work in the same roles of industry/
industries of industry to find out more about opportunities and perhaps facilitate
further connections. It is illustrative of the increasingly digital nature of navigating
support services and opportunities in the United Kingdom labour market.
4. Conclusions and recommendations
The United Kingdom has a predominantly demand-led migration system in which
labour migration from outside the EEA is utilized to address specific skill shortages.
The list of recognized skill shortage occupations and job titles has been reduced in
recent years, a limit on migration has been imposed and requirements for English
language competence have been raised. These measures mean that legal opportunities
for labour migrants from their countries to come and work in the United Kingdom
are increasingly restricted.
139 http://backr.net/about.