Using EU Indicators of Immigrant Integration - European ...

40Who is missing from statistics?The most socially excluded people are often under-representedin the surveys upon which manynational and EU indicators are built. They may beunder-sampled due to their higher non-responserates. In many countries, people are excludedfrom SILC if they are living in collective housingor homeless. Official statistics will never captureall hard-to-reach groups.Measuring rates vs. gapsIt is important to consider the type of comparisonrelevant for integration. Rates are shares or levelsmeasured as percentages. Gaps are the differencebetween the shares of immigrants andthe total or non-immigrant population. The twomeasurements are two different ways of lookingat society. For example, smaller gaps are generallyobserved for Central European countries,mainly because the rates for the total populationtend to be lower in comparison to the total populationin Western European countries. One mightalso think that rates and gaps are negativelycorrelated; when shares of immigrants increase,the gaps between immigrants and the totalpopulation would decrease. However, this is notalways the case because the share for the totalpopulation may have increased to an even largerextent than the share for immigrants. As a result,both rates and gaps are relevant to compare thesituation of immigrants across countries.Reference groupWho do we compare immigrants to? Eurostathas selected the ‘total population’ as a referencegroup. This includes immigrants. Including immigrantsin the reference group may have some effecton the results, depending on the proportionof immigrants within the total population and thesize of the difference in shares/levels between thetwo groups. Comparing immigrants to non-immigrantsis more precise for measuring the situationof immigrants. However, the total population maybe a relevant reference group to measure in howfar immigrants are converging towards the wholeof society, of which they are part.Areas of integration: employment, education, socialinclusion, and active citizenshipThis project’s analysis showed that the indicatorsresults within one area of integration areoften correlated to one another. For example,countries’ with high outcomes on one educationindicator (e.g. reading skills of 15 year olds)usually also have high outcomes on other educationindicators (e.g. early school leaving). Thedifferent areas of integration are not always correlatedto one another. Looking at only one ortwo areas of integration, such as employment oreducation, provides a misleading picture. Mostcountries have high outcomes in one area andlow outcomes in another.How does society affect integration?The characteristics of the receiving society area key but often neglected factor that influencesthe integration situation and the effectivenessof integration policies. Integration ‘outcomes’may be less the result of targeted integrationpolicies. The structure of the school system, thelabour market, or the political system, may havea greater effect on immigrants’ educational attainment,employment situation, or political participation.The situation of immigrants in manyof these areas is also related to the situation ofnatives in the country. It is advisable to compareimmigrants and non-immigrants with similarbackgrounds and analyse the effect of the generalpolicies and context.Correlation vs. causalityA common debate in science is the question ofcorrelation and causation. Two variables that arerelated to each other at the same time (e.g. correlationsbetween contextual factors and integrationoutcomes) are not necessarily taken to havea cause-and-effect relationship, meaning that onecauses the other. We do not know which one is thecause and which the effect (a.k.a. ‘reverse causality’).In addition, the two variables may only berelated to each other because both are causesor effects of a third ‘unobserved variable.’ Integrationindicators, which use aggregate data toassess individual behaviour, have their limits forexplaining the integration process. A correlationobserved at the group level cannot be assumed toapply at the individual level (usually referred to asan ‘ecological fallacy’). What is true at the countrylevel is not necessary true at the individual level.Further analysis (e.g. multivariate, longitudinal,econometric methods) helps clarify the full meaningof aggregate-level data.10.2 Integration indicatorsin the Member StatesStarting in the 1990s, a few governments havesupported projects to measure integration invarious forms, often as part of multi-annualstrategic plans on integration. Several others arecurrently debating whether to establish integrationindicators. Ambitious local and regional governmentsintroduced their own indicators along-