EU unemployment rate higher for children of immigrants, says report

The children of immigrants in EU countries face disadvantages in work and education, according to a new report by the OECD and the European Commission.

The report finds that the EU youth unemployment rate for people with foreign-born parents is nearly 50% higher than those with native-born parents, with one-fifth reporting they have been discriminated against. In OECD countries outside the EU, by contrast, the unemployment rates for the two groups are roughly the same.

In all OECD countries, income inequality tends to be higher among immigrants than among the native-born population—although not necessarily by a wide margin.

Regarding education, the report finds that a quarter of adult immigrants in the EU has a degree, compared to one third in the OECD as a whole. Meanwhile, the share of immigrant students from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds who perform at the highest levels in the OECD’s PISA literacy tests is only half that of native-born students.

In their foreword to the report, OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría and European Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos write that: “The active participation of immigrants and their children in the labour market and, more generally, in public life is vital for ensuring social cohesion in the host country and the ability of migrants to function as autonomous, productive and successful, self-realised citizens.”

The gap in educational achievement between immigrant and native-born groups is the subject of an IZA World of Labor article by Horst Entorf, who argues that education of immigrants should be a priority for governments of industrialized countries facing a skills gap. Entorf recommends that: “Policymakers should prioritize measures that avoid segregating migrants and that reduce impediments arising from parental socio-economic disadvantage.”

The report, Indicators of Immigrant Integration 2015: Settling In, is available here.

Related articles:
Migrants and educational achievement gaps by Horst Entorf
Can immigrants ever earn as much as native workers? by Kathryn H. Anderson
Intermarriage and the economic success of immigrants by Olga K. Nottmeyer
Anonymous job applications and hiring discrimination by Ulf Rinne
Read more articles on migration here