Labour market performance and migration flows - European ...

European CommissionOccasional Paper 60, Volume Ito help, alongside and as an essential complement of the Lisbon Strategy for growth and jobs,to fill in arising and future labour and skill gaps on the EU labour markets.” 456.3 Highly-Skilled Migration and the Blue Card in the Euro-Mediterranean ContextIn this evolving context, a major watershed in the EU strategy on economic immigration hasbeen the new focus on high-skilled migration. In October 2007, re-emphasising theimportance of fostering jobs and growth and the contribution of migration to EU economiccompetitiveness, the Commission’s proposal for a Directive on an EU Blue Card (seedescription below in Section 6.3.3.), later adopted in May 2009, underlined the importance ofattracting highly-skilled migrants in the international competition for skills and talents. Theproposal, which is anchored in the Lisbon Strategy as well as in the broader framework of theEU strategy on economic immigration, adopts a “needs-based approach”. Its objectives arenot only to enhance the EU’s economic competitiveness 46 and optimise the flexibility oflabour markets, but to increase the positive impact of highly-skilled migration on developingcountries. 47In order to assess the potential implications of the Blue Card for Arab MediterraneanCountries, it is important to first look at highly-skilled migration in Europe in general and itspatterns, and then elaborate on the factors that attract highly-skilled employment to the EU.For this purpose, it is worth examining the skill level of AMC migration in Europe, its trends,location and the reasons behind the successful attraction of highly-skilled migrants. This willbe used as a base to inquire into the possibility of matching the growing labour demand in theEU and the growing labour supply in AMCs from both labour markets in the origin and hostcountries. Based on this analysis, the description of the main characteristics of the Blue Cardsuch as it was approved in May 2009 will allow us to reach some conclusions as to whetherthat instrument is suitable and attractive enough to satisfy the need for highly-skilledmigration to Europe and, in particular, whether it will attract highly-skilled migration fromAMCs.6.3.1. EU and AMC Skill Profiles: What Scope for a Supply and Demand Match in theMediterranean?Europe is made up of many different countries and different labour markets, but at theaggregate level the data presented by the European Employment Report 2008 are conclusive:third-country workers, and in particular immigrants from AMCs, for the most part holdunskilled positions (see also Sections 4.2 and 5.2). In the EU-15 (the relevant reference, sinceit includes all main countries of destination of migration) slightly less than 50% of thirdcountry migrants hold low-skill positions, more than 30% have medium-skill positions andfewer than 20% are in high-skill positions. Among AMC workers, and in particular those forNorth Africa, the percentage of highly-skilled is substantially lower, and the share of the lowskilled reaches 60% (see Figure 6.3.1.1).45 See MEMO/08/402 Brussels, 17 June 2008, A Common Immigration Policy for Europe, 1-5, p. 5.46 See Memo 07/423, Brussels, 23 October 2007, http://eur-lex.europa.eu/smartapi/cgi/sga_doc?smartapi!celexplus!prod!DocNumber&lg=en&type_doc=COMfinal&an_doc=2007&nu_doc=637.47 In order to avoid the negative effects of skill drain in origin countries, it proposes ethical recruitment procedures, limiting of active recruitment procedures in origin countries afflicted bybrain drain, as well as encouraging circular, and thereby return migration.86