Skills and Labour Market Integration of Immigrants and their Children in Flanders / Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Immigrants.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (256 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Paris : OECD Publishing, 2023.

Summary:

Flanders experienced large inflows of immigrants over the past decade, coming from an increasingly diverse range of countries, with growth rates outpacing the Netherlands, France and Germany, as well as Belgium as a whole. While integration outcomes have improved in recent years, some of the core indicators remain unfavourable in international comparison, especially for non-EU immigrant women, refugees, and youth with migrant parents. Against this backdrop, Flanders has developed a comprehensive integration policy. This review, the fourth in the series Working Together for Integration, provides an in-depth analysis of the Flemish integration system, highlighting its strengths, weaknesses, and potential areas for improvement. Earlier reviews in this series looked at integration in Sweden (2016), Finland (2018) and Norway (2022).

Contents:

Intro

Foreword

OECD field mission to four Flemish cities in the spring of 2022

Antwerp: The highly diverse population centre

Mechelen: A medium-sized city renowned for its model of living together

Tienen: A rapidly diversifying city

Heusden-Zolder: A medium-sized municipality with longstanding migrant presence

Acknowledgements

Table of contents

Executive summary

1 Assessment and recommendations for immigrant integration in Flanders

The population of immigrants and their offspring in Flanders is rapidly growing and diversifying

Large inflows of asylum seekers and refugees bring challenges…

…and although the Flemish labour market is better positioned to tackle these challenges than in the past, outcomes remain unfavourable in international comparison

A significant share of immigrants has low levels of education or was trained abroad…

…which brings challenges in a labour market that places strong emphasis on formal credentials

The current policy for new arrivals is centred around a comprehensive civic integration programme, with language training as the main element of support

Despite high participation, language training for adult newcomers has not produced strong results in the past

Language proficiency is of critical importance in the Flemish labour market and society

The employment return of higher language levels differs across migrant groups

Few immigrants have employment once the civic integration programme ends

Recent reforms have addressed several shortcomings of the civic integration programme

At the same time, important challenges remain and need to be addressed.

Civic integration trajectories remain mostly sequential, protracting the time migrants spent outside of the labour market, and a stronger involvement of the PES at early stages would help in addressing this shortcoming

Responsibilities for integration are shared by many actors, highlighting the need for more effective co-operation and co-ordination in integration efforts

The data infrastructure is highly developed

Difficult access to housing complicates newcomers' integration pathways

Flanders' emphasis on rapid labour market integration can create a conflict with the goal of sustainable employment

The public employment service offers various activation measures to support jobseekers' employment entry, but immigrants and their children benefit less from the measures that work best

Participation in vocational language training should be further expanded

Given the low education levels of many new arrivals, adult education needs to be more central to integration efforts

Further improvements in the recognition process of foreign qualifications are needed

Validation of professional qualifications is a promising pathway, but needs to be expanded and better targeted at migrants

Bridging offers need to be streamlined and scaled up

Migrant women are struggling to integrate, and many remain locked in inactivity, pointing to the need for second chance offers

Family policies should be made more accessible for migrant mothers

Wage subsidies form an important element in Flanders' approach to tackle demand-side barriers to employment, but immigrants are underrepresented

The service voucher scheme gradually became an important employer of migrant women, but traps many highly qualified migrant women in subsidised domestic work.

Self-employment can offer immigrants a way out of labour market exclusion, but low survival rates point to the need for more guidance and counselling

Mentorship is relatively well-developed, and stronger targeting would improve its effectiveness

Discrimination is an important obstacle to labour market integration, and Flanders aims to tackle it more effectively through sector-specific actions

Equal employment policy measures have become less targeted and the effect of this should be closely monitored

The population of youth with migrant parents is becoming increasingly important in the Flemish education system and labour market…

…and overall, children of immigrants fare poorly in Flanders, highlighting the persistent nature of integration challenges

Gaps in educational performance already manifest themselves at an early age, despite high participation in Early Childhood Education and Care

Flanders employs an inclusive approach to enhance the educational chances of pupils with migrant parents, yet outcomes still leave much to be desired…

Youth born abroad face difficulties transitioning from reception education

The employment gap between immigrant and native-born offspring is among the widest in the OECD, regardless of level of education

The large public sector plays an important role-model function, but immigrants and their offspring remain strongly underrepresented

A comprehensive action plan on integration should be considered

2 The context of integration policy in Flanders

Characteristics of immigrants

The immigrant population is rapidly increasing and diversifying

The share of the immigrant population with (very) low levels of education is high

Labour market integration of immigrants

Despite improvement, non-EU immigrants' employment outcomes remain poor in international comparison.

High inactivity among foreign-born women merits particular attention

The success of integration is highly correlated with the purpose for migration

Many non-EU immigrants never search for work in Flanders, and those who do take longer to find work than elsewhere

The return to education plays out differently for immigrants and the native-born

Besides lower employment, immigrants have less favourable job characteristics

The lack of Dutch language skills is the main obstacle to getting a suitable job

Immigrants are overrepresented in atypical work

Development of integration policy

From a selective and voluntary reception policy towards a general and obligatory civic integration programme

Further changes centralised and professionalised integration policies

The emphasis increasingly shifted towards civic integration and language learning as a means for integration

Recent reforms have made civic integration much more demanding

Key actors in integration policy

Many actors are involved in shaping integration policy at all levels

Social partners are highly involved in integration policy

Flanders has an active approach consulting civil society and immigrant organisations

Flanders is taking action to reappraise the role of the local governments in the integration process

References

Notes

3 Integration of new arrivals in Flanders

The civic integration programme

Scope and target group of the integration programme

The programme is offered to all new arrivals but obligatory for those considered most in need of integration support

Registration rates have declined for new arrivals entitled to participate

Integration participants have very different integration needs

Content of the integration programme

The programme is multifaceted and tailored to individual needs.

Dutch language training is a critical component of integration training

Civic orientation as the second pillar of the integration programme

Recent reforms have made integration training more demanding

Newcomers are obliged to register with the PES to foster economic self-reliance

The programme will be extended with an innovative participation and network trajectory

Effectiveness of the integration programme

Inter-Agency co-ordination still leaves a lot to be desired

Some migrant groups experience more difficulties to participate in the various civic integration stages

Civic integration trajectories remain mostly sequential, with little parallel training

The focus on formal language learning implies protracted integration trajectories for slow learners

Civic integration trajectories differ considerably across local contexts

Despite high participation rates, language training has not produced strong results…

…a challenge which the revised Integration Act aims to tackle

Settlement patterns

Immigrants are concentrated in and around the Flemish centre cities

Within cities, immigrants are overrepresented in disadvantaged neighbourhoods

The accessibility of housing steers immigrants towards poorer neighbourhoods

Even when immigrants leave concentrated neighbourhoods, they often remain trapped in lower-quality housing

Increasing asylum inflows have led to an accommodation crisis…

…and policy gaps interrupt the housing pathways of refugees

Social assistance

Social assistance is the only social protection scheme to which newly arrived migrants can have rapid access

Non-EU nationals have considerably higher rates of receipt and longer periods of receipt compared to EU and Belgian nationals.

Immigrants "integrate out of" social assistance, yet receipt continues to be high many years after immigration.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

92-64-77210-3

92-64-60585-1