International Organization for Migration (IOM)

Improving Access to Labour market Information for migrants and employers
36
private staffing agencies to find highly skilled recruits in third countries. The recourse
to private intermediation agencies is more common for those highly qualified thirdcountry
nationals willing to work in regulated occupations abroad, such as, typically,
doctors. Here, the possibilities of direct matching with the prospective employer
abroad are lowered as a consequence of the requirement to obtain the recognition of
foreign qualifications and accreditation by the relevant professional bodies prior to
starting work. Private intermediation agencies generally take care of recognition and
accreditation procedures, thus ensuring that there are no additional costs involved for
the prospective employer in waiting for the selected migrant to go through complex
and often cumbersome procedures. Similar patterns are observed also for mediumskilled
migration candidates willing to take up employment abroad in specialized,
technical occupations, such as nursing.
As a matter of fact, an issue of demand-driven labour migration systems is that they
require prospective migrants to be job-ready before departure. This characteristic
seems to hinder the possibility of direct international jobs-skills matching between
the prospective employer and the prospective migrant in those segments of the
labour market which are highly regulated (that is, in regulated professions).
In the United States, a study by the Academy of Health (reported in Chapter 12)
found that direct overseas recruitment is not the preferred option for companies
hiring in specialized occupations, such as nursing, teaching, science, technology,
and engineering. The recourse to private intermediation agencies implied by the need
to verify the foreign qualifications held by the migration candidate translates into
relatively high costs for the employer. For example, the study (Pittman et al., 2007)
reported that recruiters typically charge hospitals and nursing homes a standard fee
of USD 15,000–25,000 per foreign-trained nurse. Thus, it is not surprising that
even in an occupation like nursing where a vast network of international recruiters
exists, direct overseas recruitment is not the primary source for hiring foreign trained
workers, especially in a largely supply-driven labour migration system such as that
of the United States, where skilled migrants can be admitted on migration streams
other than those requiring a job offer. In this context, it seems less expensive and less
risky for United States employers to hire foreign workers already in the country, who
obtained the required accreditation in the United States.
Even in an entirely demand-driven labour migration system as the one implemented
in Sweden, it is very rare that employers in the formal health and care sector (which
in Sweden are mostly public employers) recruit directly from third countries, and this
despite a growing unmet demand for doctors and nurses. Receiving the validation
for health professions is a long and complicated procedure in Sweden, which can take
years even for EU nationals (Chapter 9). To be able to recruit doctors and nurses
from third countries the employers would need to set extensive programmes for predeparture
training, for them to be job-ready before a work permit can be granted.
Currently such initiatives do not exist in Sweden.
Pre-departure training and accreditation measures in migrants’ countries of origin
represent an interesting tool for facilitating employment matching in specialized