Using EU Indicators of Immigrant Integration - European ...

Within the four areas, a high degree of internalconsistency is observed, which means that withineach of the four areas, all indicators are statisticallyrelated to some extent. Among the employmentindicators for men only, there is someinconsistency observable. Some indicators showa few outliers which partly stem from data withlimited reliability. Data are more consistent whenbroken down by gender. The indicators on healthstatus, gaps in educational levels, the gap inself-employed persons as well as the long-termresident status rate show strong variations. Thereasons for the variations can be also explainedby differences in the situations across countriesand must not be a result of unreliability in thedata. Explanations for such strong variationacross countries need further investigation.In spite of missing data from some countries andmissing data for some indicators the overall situationrelated to data availability and quality is positively.There are enough reliable and robust datafor making international comparisons across theMember States of the European Union (EU). TheLFS and PISA data have been successfully exploredfor the use of migrant integration. Current changesto SILC data expect to provide new opportunitiesfor using SILC data to measure migrant integration.Chapter 8:Alternative datasourcesThe data sources used for the indicators onmigrant integration are without doubt the bestavailable sources for the purpose of monitoringimmigrant integration throughout the EU and forproducing the indicators defined in the ZaragozaDeclaration. There are no other internationallycomparable data sources as good as the EU LFSand EU SILC for providing annual data coveringmigrants in comparison to the total population.Other international – generally high quality surveys– are, among others, the European SocialSurvey (ESS), the Eurobarometer, the World ValuesSurvey, the European Values Survey, the EuropeanElection Study and the International SocialSurvey Programme. Those surveys – in spite oftheir generally good quality – do not provide sufficientlylarge samples of immigrants for annualor biennial monitoring of migrant integration.It is generally not recommended to use alternativesources from national data sources, as forinstance from existing register data or nationalspecific surveys with larger samples. The use ofnational data sources is not recommended becausethe data are mostly not comparable withthe data from other countries due to deviatingdefinitions and coverage of the target population.Since there is no tool to systematicallycheck comparability, there is no better solutionthan to stick to internationally organised andcross-checked data collections (like the onesused). Data from national data sources, oftendrawn from national registers, are usually ofhigher quality than from internationally harmoniseddata sources. Although it is obvious thatnational data sources allow for more detailedanalysis, the advantage of comparability of internationalsurveys is necessary for the purposeof EU-wide integration monitoring.Chapter 9:Availability of datasources for additionalindicatorsThere are various potential additional indicatorsfor monitoring the integration of immigrants inthe European Union. Eurostat already producedresults for additional indicators on overqualification,self-employment and risk-of-povertyand social inclusion. According to the assessmentof the project coordinator (Migration PolicyGroup), further potential additional indicators inthe area of employment were identified: temporaryemployment, part-time employment, longtermunemployment and public sector employment.These indicators are available from theEU Labour Force Survey and are thus regularlyproduced in all EU Member States. Potentialadditional indicators in the area of social inclusioninclude in-work at-risk-of-poverty, at-riskof-povertyrate before social transfers (exceptpensions), persistent at-risk-of-poverty, housingcost overburden rate, as well as other indicatorsrelated to health, such as unmet health needs.All these indicators are available for most of EUcountries from EU-SILC data.The potential additional indicators in the areaactive citizenship are related to civic and politicalparticipation, such as membership in organisations,membership in trade unions, membershipin political parties, volunteering or contact withdecision-makers. These indicators are measuredin the European Social Survey; however, samplesizes are too small for annual use. Even pooleddata for two or three years may not be enough37