Using EU Indicators of Immigrant Integration - European ...

Executive SummaryThis report is based on the project’s own researchand analysis of existing international quantitativeand qualitative research. Consultations withintegration actors from across Europe providedvaluable information and insights. The project’soutcomes can be summarised as follows:1.1 Analysis1. Time of residence matters: Integration is along-term process. Immigrants show betteroutcomes, the longer they are in the country.Just as for non-immigrants of working age,outcomes also improve generally with age.2. Gender matters: Across all Zaragoza indicators,foreign-born women and mothers areamong the most vulnerable groups, in particularthose born in non-EU countries.3. Origin country matters: Compared to immigrantsfrom EU or highly-developed countries,immigrants from non-EU countries, in particularless developed countries, have on averagedifferent reasons for migration, differentaspirations for the future, and different typesof problems. Non-EU immigrants face greaterchallenges on the labour market, the housingmarket and in schools. They are more likely tobe affected by poverty and over-qualification.Immigrants from lower developed countriesare also more likely to naturalise.4. Socio-economic background matters: Socialmobility remains modest for immigrants. Employmentand education outcomes still largelydepend on the parents’ socio-economic status.Immigrants are more likely to be concentratedin lower track, low-performing schools with alow average socio-economic status. Childrenof immigrants with low socio-economic statusface much greater difficulties advancing intohigher education.5. Quality matters: Integration is more than havinga job, housing, and basic education. Employedimmigrants more often work part-time,temporary, below their qualifications and withwages that are insufficient to protect themfrom poverty than non-immigrants. They aremore likely to live in overcrowded housing andpay more of their income for rent. Foreignqualifications are often devalued on the labourmarket or not formally recognised.6. Discrimination matters: Unequal treatment hampersintegration. Immigrants are less likely to behired even when their qualifications are similarto non-immigrants. Immigrant students areless likely to be referred to higher track educationeven when their grades are similar to theperformance of non-immigrants. In countrieswith larger gaps between immigrants and nonimmigrants,the public is more likely to say thatdiscrimination against migrants is a problem.7. Context matters: Structures of society shapeintegration. Immigrants tend to have betterlabour market outcomes, perform betterin schools and participate more in countrieswhere the general population has higher outcomes.Immigrants from the same countryof origin and with a similar social backgroundperform differently in different countries.Some welfare systems protect immigrantsfrom poverty better than others and someeducation systems are more favourable forlow-performing immigrants. Across the board,more research is needed on the direct impactof the welfare system, the education system,housing and general labour market structureson integration outcomes of immigrants.8. Policy matters: There is a lack of rigorous impactevaluations of policy effects in the EU.There is evidence that policies are directly relevantfor some EU integration indicators. Forexample, Employment rates tend to be higherin countries with a larger share of work migration.Welfare systems in some countries weremore successful in reducing poverty than others.Richer, more equal countries tend to adoptmore ambitious integration policies. More immigrantsnaturalise in countries where naturalisationpolicies are more open. While there is abetter understanding of which countries adoptpolicies and which outcomes seem to be associatedwith which policies, very little is knownabout the causal effects of specific policies orprogrammes.Employment9. Highly-qualified immigrants are most likelyto be overqualified for their job. Easier andmore accessible recognition procedures,equivalence courses and European cooperationcould facilitate the recognition of qualificationsand skills.10. Immigrants and their descendants are underrepresentedin the public sector which is5