190 likes | 346 Views
UNECE Task Force on the Socioeconomic Conditions of Migrants. Progress report prepared for the UNECE/ Eurostat Session on Migration Statistics Geneva, 17-19 October 2012. Overview . Background Methodological Objectives Membership Other Relevant Initiatives Task Force Framework
E N D
UNECE Task Force on the Socioeconomic Conditions of Migrants Progress report prepared for the UNECE/Eurostat Session on Migration Statistics Geneva, 17-19 October 2012
Overview • Background • Methodological Objectives • Membership • Other Relevant Initiatives • Task Force Framework • A Longitudinal Approach • Two Migrant Groups • Six Socio-Economic Dimensions • Examples • Demographic dimension • Education dimension • Social civic dimension • Challenges • Next steps
Background The problem: • Despite the growing phenomenon of international migration, there is still much that we don’t know. What is needed: • Identify and understand the most relevant socio-economic issues on migrants • Robust statistical information on the socio-economic characteristics of migrants
Membership Countries • Canada (Chair) • Australia • Denmark • Estonia • Ireland • Italy • Netherlands • Norway • Palestine • Spain • Turkey • United Kingdom • United States International Organizations • OECD • European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) • Eurostat • UNECE
Methodological Objectives Measurement on the different dimensions Improve availability, quality and comparability of data
Other relevant initiatives • Mainstreaming of migration statistics • Zaragoza Pilot Study • Suitland Working Group
Reasons for the time perspective in understanding migrant groups • Migrants’ socioeconomic conditions are influenced by their characteristics at arrival and the period in which they arrive, and tend to change with duration in the country • Different data type – Different implications on research questions, analytic methods and indicators. • Cross-sectional data: • Characteristics at the time of data collection, e.g., age, year since migration, generation • Time series trends • Synthetic cohort method • Retrospective questions that portray life history • Longitudinal data: • Longitudinal trends • Pathway analysis
Migrant groups The work of the Task Force has focused on two migrant groups Second Generation Foreign-born
Socio-economic dimensions • Focus: • Demographic • Education • Social and civic engagement • Labour market • Economic • Potential to include: • Health
Demographic dimension • Fundamental in understanding migrant groups: • It is about the attributes of a given migrant group • For example, the comparison of the composition and distribution of the migrant population with that of the non-migrant population in the host country • Highlight over time whether demographic characteristics or behaviour converge with host country nationals and identify the factors for the convergence and dissimilarity • Demographic factors to consider when comparing the socioeconomic conditions across migrants groups (e.g., comparing migrant youth with non-migrant youth, etc)
Demographic indicators • Proposed indicators: • Individual characteristics at the time of data collection, e.g., age, gender, citizenship, place of birth, location of usual residence, year since migration, marital status • Fertility rates • Household and family composition • Admissions categories and legal entitlements • eligible to work or receive social welfare benefits • visa type • Efficiency of host country’s language • General health
Challenges • Higher non-response due to the transient nature of the population • Methods of collection • Limitations to the size and distribution of the immigrant/second generation population • Limited information on details to further distinguish migrant groups • Asking longitudinal research questions • Availability of longitudinal data
What are the next steps? • Data needs • Fall 2012: Continue to identify the relevant issues and indicators for the other socio-economic dimensions (labour market, economic, health) • Data availability/quality • Fall 2012: Review existing sources (censuses, household survey, population registry, administrative database) and their suitability to provide relevant data • Winter 2013: Share practices and write guidelines to countries intending to produce statistics on socio-economic conditions of migrants using existing data sources.