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This study examines two programmes aimed at integrating refugees into the Austrian labour market: a short-term Skills Assessment and a longer-term Integration Year that includes an internship and training. The theoretical framework draws on the concepts of social field and forms of capital proposed by Pierre Bourdieu. Using data from a large-scale refugee survey in early 2019, we find that Austria's short-term Skills Assessment fails to increase refugees' employment chances. The Integration Year positively helps employment, but this outcome is limited to refugee women. We conclude that integration programmes only help if they provide refugees with both cultural and social capital. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

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This study uses annual data from the Labour Force Survey (LFS) to examine employment trends in health occupations in Canada between 1998 and 2024. Data from the 2021 Census of Population are used to provide age profiles by detailed health occupations, to better understand the extent to which younger workers could replace those approaching retirement age. This article also explores the role of immigration in mitigating the impacts of an aging health workforce.

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Businesses in the travel arrangement, reservation and accommodation services industries are directly influenced by economic conditions and household discretionary spending on leisure. Employment levels in these industries can be volatile, particularly during periods of financial uncertainty, such as during the [Coronavirus Disease 2019] COVID-19 pandemic and the recovery phase that followed. This paper explores the demographic characteristics of employees in the Canadian travel arrangement, reservation and accommodation services industries. The paper leverages administrative data to examine the distribution of these industries' workforce by gender, age, full-time work status and residency status from 2017 to 2023. Results in this paper are based solely on employees who received a T4 slip from employers; they exclude self-employed workers.

While the COVID-19 pandemic was a big shock to the travel arrangement, reservation and accommodation services industries, leading to significant economic and employment losses, the distribution of these industries' workforce by gender, age and full-time work status did not vary meaningfully from 2017 to 2023, for the most part. However, the residency status of the workforce changed during and after the pandemic, with a greater reliance on non-permanent residents, including international students, temporary foreign workers, and others who are not Canadian citizens or permanent residents, as a result of their increased availability in the labour supply. Furthermore, most industries in the study have yet to regain pre-pandemic employment levels, despite a complete financial recovery. Moving forward, these industries will face growing challenges caused by an aging population and increasing economic uncertainty. As a result, competition to attract and retain workers will intensify, potentially leading to labour cost pressures and further strains in the travel and accommodation sector. However, recent empirical analysis shows that employees in industries such as accommodation and food services face relatively lower exposure to artificial intelligence-related job transformation and downsizing. Finally, with Canada's economic relationship with the United States changing and other economic headwinds stirring, revenue, profitability and hiring strategies could be affected. While demographic and hiring challenges loom large, these economic pressures further compound the uncertainties facing the sector.

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This briefing provides data on migrants' labour market integration and the jobs they do in the UK labour market. It also presents data on migrants' employment and unemployment rates, occupational status, earnings, and contract types.

Key points: (1) In the fourth quarter of 2022, 6.2 million foreign-born people were employed in the UK, making up nearly a fifth of the working population; (2) Migrant men were more likely to be employed than UK-born men, but among women, migrants were less likely to be in employment; (3) Unemployment rates increased sharply among migrants during the [Coronavirus Disease 2019] COVID-19 pandemic for both migrants and the UK-born, but had largely returned to 2019 levels by the end of 2022; (4) Unemployed migrants were less likely to claim unemployment benefits than unemployed people born in the UK; (5) Non-EU born migrants who moved to the UK seeking asylum were less likely to be employed than those who moved for employment, family or study reasons; (6) Migrants are over-represented in the hospitality sector, transport and storage, and information, communication and IT; (7) Workers born in North America, Oceania or India were more likely to be in high skilled occupations than the UK-born, while those born in new EU member states (EU-8 and EU-2) were more likely to be in occupations classified as low-skilled; (8) Employees born in North America, Oceania and India had the highest median earnings in 2022; (9) Many highly educated migrant workers are overqualified for their jobs; (10) The share of workers in part-time jobs because they could not find a full-time position was 6 per cent for those born in South Asian countries, excluding India, and 2 per cent for UK born workers; (11) Foreign-born workers were more likely to work during night shifts and in non-permanent jobs than the UK born.

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In this analysis, we consider recent immigration flows and their potential macroeconomic implications. Interpreting the current labor market requires understanding recent immigration: how many people arrived and how they engaged in the economy. Recent estimates from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) suggest much higher rates of recent immigration than were previously projected. In 2019, CBO projected that net immigration in 2023 would total 1.0 million people; now, the agency estimates that net immigration last year was 3.3 million. Moreover, we estimate that CBO's current immigration estimates suggest faster population and labor force growth in recent years than currently reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) using Census population estimates.

Prior to the [Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)] pandemic, the range of population and labor force participation projections from CBO, the BLS, and the Social Security Administration (SSA) suggested that sustainable employment growth (that which did not put unwelcome pressure on inflation) would be between 60,000 and 140,000 per month in 2022 and, as more people retired, fall to between 60,000 and 100,000 per month by 2024. According to the Employment Situation Report from BLS, employment growth in 2023 averaged 255,000 per month, two to four times the pace that had been considered sustainable. Many observers took this as evidence that the labor market was much too tight and needed to soften significantly in order to get inflation down. But, using the new CBO estimates of net immigration released in January 2024, we estimate that the labor market in 2023 could have sustainably accommodated employment growth of 160,000 to 230,000. That is still below the actual monthly increases in employment in 2023, but far less so than previously estimated. Similarly, for 2024 we estimate sustainable employment growth will be between 160,000 and 200,000, approximately double the sustainable level that would have occurred in absence of the pickup in immigration according to the pre-pandemic projections from CBO, BLS, and SSA.

The unexpectedly high level of immigration also explains some of the surprising strength in consumer spending and overall economic growth since 2022. Moreover, we expect immigration flows to further boost economic growth in 2024. Although we focus here on the near-term boost to the aggregate economy from greater immigration, the forces we describe are also relevant in the long term. The United States (U.S.) is facing a demographic challenge because of lower fertility rates and population aging. Recent Census projections make it clear that the growth of the U.S. population in coming decades will hinge critically on the level of immigration.

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The Minister for Home Affairs, The Hon. Clare O'Neil MP, asked the Joint Standing Committee on Migration to inquire into the role of permanent migration in nation building. The committee adopted the inquiry on 23 November 2022. The terms of reference include: (1) The role of permanent migration in nation building, cultural diversity, and social cohesion; (2) Immigration as a strategic enabler of vibrant economies and socially sustainable communities in our cities and regional hubs; (3) Attraction and retention strategies for working migrants to Australia; (4) Policy settings to strengthen skilled migrant pathways to permanent residency; (5) Strengthening labour market participation and the economic and social contribution of migrants, including family and humanitarian migrants and the partners of working migrants; (6) The role of settlement services and vocational training in utilising migrant experiences, knowledge, and opportunities; and (7) Other related matters that may assist the inquiry.

The report consists of 12 chapters: Chapter 1 provides relevant background information, including recent Government announcements and reviews with direct bearing on the inquiry, and an overview of the conduct of the inquiry; Chapter 2 provides a historical overview of the role that migration has played in the formation of modern Australia; Chapter 3 discusses, in conceptual terms, the central place migration has played and will continue to play in the endeavour of nation building in Australia; Chapter 4 provides a factual overview of the current state of the migration system; Chapter 5 acknowledges that Australia is in a global competition for highly skilled migrant workers and that there is a need to tailor policy to improve how we attract and retain such highly sought after workers; Chapter 6 addresses the widely acknowledged flaws in our current visa processing system and provides recommendations to improve these processes; Chapter 7 discusses ongoing and endemic skills shortages within the Australian economy and the role that the migration system should play in helping to ameliorate this; Chapter 8 examines how we can maximise the contribution that migrants and their families make; Chapter 9 is dedicated to examining our current Humanitarian Program; Chapter 10 deals with the unique challenges and opportunities that are experienced by regional Australia in relation to migration policy; Chapter 11 looks at how government can produce better migration policy outcomes with a stronger focus on research; and Chapter 12 summarises the key findings and recommendations of the inquiry and earmarks areas for further inquiry.

The committee made 73 recommendations, including that the Australian Government: undertakes a digital English language testing pilot in the higher education sector; empowers Jobs and Skills Australia to review the English language requirements for a range of occupational roles to ensure that they align with the work and safety requirements of the position; continues to prioritise the development and implementation of the Skills in Demand visa; considers the phasing out of Labour Market Testing requirements in favour of a data-driven approach by Jobs and Skills Australia; amends the Migration Act 1958 or the Migration Regulations 1994 to expressly confer on Jobs and Skills Australia the statutory responsibility of determining skills and workforce shortages for the purposes of migration law; replaces the current skilled migration occupation lists with lists produced by Jobs and Skills Australia; considers providing Jobs and Skills Australia the statutory power to oversee the work of Australia's skills assessment authorities; takes the lead in a nationally coordinated approach to harmonising the regulation of skills assessment, qualification recognition, and occupational licensing requirements and, establishes an online portal as a one-stop-shop for navigating these processes, available in multiple languages; works to establish mutual recognition of skills and qualifications with partner governments and accreditation authorities of countries with similar standards to Australia; through a competent body, provides for automatic skill and qualification recognition and, including where possible, occupational licensing of foreign workers coming from countries where standards for a given occupation are equivalent to or higher than that of Australia; and redesigns the Skilling Australians Fund levy so that it more directly contributes to the skilling of locals to meet the needs of industries that rely on foreign workers and pay the levy.

The recommendations also include that the Australian Government: improves the existing public relations program to increase the level of confidence that Australian employers have in skills, experience, and qualifications acquired by migrants overseas; amend the Migration Act 1958, to better account for the skills and experience of secondary applicants in the points test for skilled migration visa applicants; undertakes a pilot program to better aid refugees in navigating the skills assessment and qualification recognition processes in Australia; refers to relevant examples in Germany to devise mechanisms through which skills assessing authorities can help refugees substantiate their claims around their skills, experience, and qualifications in cases where official documentation is unavailable; establishes a system through which refugees are more directly connected to job opportunities relevant to their skills and qualifications that is built into the skills assessment and qualification recognition processes; works within the existing funding framework to improve specialised refugee employment support services and that that employment support service providers be incentivised to help refugees find jobs, or pursue small business opportunities, best aligned to their skills, qualifications, and experience; allows Working Holiday (subclass 417) and Work and Holiday (subclass 462) visa holders to work in tourism and hospitality in all hard-to-staff rural and remote areas; improve the educational program directed at Working Holiday Maker scheme participants; and establish a fully funded, independent collaborative institution for research and data collection and analysis related to migration policy.

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In the hiring discrimination literature, employers are depicted primarily as majority members who strive to bolster their privileged group status by limiting immigrants' employment opportunities. While minority employers are expected to be less discriminatory towards immigrant hiring than their majority counterparts, our argument contradicts this expectation. Building on the segmented assimilation and social identity literature, we analyse the disparities in organisational support for high-skilled immigrant hiring among Standard and Poor's (S&P) 1500 firms (2009-2018) with a focus on organisations led by Asian [chief executive officers] CEOs.

We find that firms with Asian CEOs tend to have a lower intent to hire high-skilled foreign workers compared to those with CEOs of other races, but such a negative effect improves significantly when the Asian CEOs received a prestigious college education. This article extends theoretical discussion on hiring discrimination by emphasising the importance of CEO minority status and education.

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Several factors may have contributed to the improved labour market outcomes for recent immigrants since the mid-2010s. The first is the expansion of the two-step immigration selection process, where an increasing number of economic immigrants are chosen from the pool of temporary foreign workers (TFWs), the second factor is linked to various changes in immigration selection since the early 2010s, notably the introduction of the Express Entry system in 2015 which places a strong emphasis on Canadian work experience, enhances language proficiency and evaluates foreign education rigorously, and the third factor is the presence of a robust national labour market, particularly in the late 2010s and in 2022. This article presents updated analyses regarding the employment and earnings outcomes of recent immigrants. It also discusses factors that might influence these outcomes in the near term. In this article, recent immigrants refer to foreign-born individuals who became permanent residents in Canada within the past 10 years.

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Temporary foreign workers (TFWs) have become an important source of Canada's labour supply, especially in some lower-paying sectors. For example, in 2021, TFWs accounted for 18 per cent of the workforce in the agriculture sector and 10 per cent in the accommodation and food services sector. TFWs can also play a long-lasting role in alleviating labour shortages because, on average, one-third of work permit holders transitioned to permanent residency (PR) within five years after receiving their initial work permit (Lu & Hou, 2024). However, not all TFWs remain in their initial industries after gaining PR. Understanding TFWs' industry retention can assist industries and policy makers in developing workforce programs tailored to the needs of both the industry and its workers. A few previous Statistics Canada studies have examined the industry retention of TFWs in primary agriculture, food manufacturing, and accommodation and food services. These studies found that, five years after transitioning to PR, 20 per cent to 50 per cent of TFWs stayed in the same industry of their first employment in Canada, depending on their occupational skill level and initial industrial sector (Xu et al., 2024; Zhang et al., 2024; Zhong et al., 2024).

This article provides a more comprehensive analysis of the industry retention of TFWs after their PR transition by examining all TFWs who held paid employment in Canada as work permit holders for work purposes (hereafter referred to as WPPRs). The analysis focuses on WPPRs who made the PR transition from 2011 to 2020 and assesses their industry retention by work permit type and industrial sector. Industry retention in this article is defined as the continuation of paid employment in the same industry where the WPPRs were employed before their PR transition (for further details, see the 'Data and definitions' section). Not remaining in the same industry could result from shifting to other industries, becoming self-employed, not being employed or not being observed in tax records.

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In today's globalized economy, more people in search of decent work are looking for job opportunities beyond their home country. This report estimates that in 2022, the number of international migrants in the labour force stood at 167.7 million, representing 4.7 per cent of the global labour force. This number had grown by 30 million since 2013, with an average annual increase of 2.8 per cent until 2019. However, from 2019 to 2022, the growth slowed to less than one per cent per year. These estimates cover 189 countries and territories, representing about 99 per cent of the world population. The presence of international migrants in the labour force not only benefits the destination countries, for example by addressing skills shortages and enriching host communities, it also supports development in their home countries through remittances and newly acquired skills of returning migrants.

International labour migration continues to be a key policy priority at the global, regional and national levels. Yet, there is still limited information about the participation of international migrants in the labour market, their employment characteristics and working conditions. This report aims to fill this gap at global and regional levels and has progressively expanded the range of information available on international migrants in the labour force over the three previous editions. This fourth edition introduces for the first time new estimates of the number of employed and unemployed international migrants and some of their main characteristics.

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