Conference of European Statisticians: Work Plan to Improve International Migration Statistics

1. Conference of European Statisticians:Work Plan to Improve International Migration Statistics Victoria A. Velkoff Dean H. Judson Edward N. Trevelyan UNECE/Eurostat Work Session on Migration Statistics November 20-22, 2006

2. Introduction • CES Work Plan is a cooperative effort of National Statistical Offices (NSOs) and International Organizations (IOs) to evaluate the consistency of international migration statistics and to propose recommendations for improving international migration statistics. • 3 general problems recognized: • Missing data • data on emigration • Incomplete data • data on undocumented migrants • Inconsistent data • data on temporary migrants

3. Introduction, cont. • Framework for the collection of comparable data increasingly important • Policy makers link migration to issues of national security, international relations, and economic development (including health and education) • Collection of migration data should focus on the statistical issues • The Work Plan’s timetable is intended to allow meaningful reforms prior to the 2010 round of censuses

4. Steering Committee: • Australia • Canada • Eurostat • IMF • OECD • Switzerland • United States • United Kingdom • UNECE • UNSD • World Bank

5. Ultimate Goal of CES Work Plan • Improve the collection and use international migration statistics

6. 6 Outputs of Work Plan • Metadata inventory of definitions • Pilot projects to assess duration thresholds • Pilot projects to measure emigration • Define residency rules for temporary migrants • Harmonize concepts and definitions of remittances between BOP and surveys • Propose recommendations to improve collection and use of international migration statistics

7. Output 1: Produce a metadata inventory, including: • A crosswalk of various (operational) definitions for immigrant stocks and flows • Definitions of migrants whose were not included in the 1998 Recommendations • A compilation of current/emerging practices used in NSOs to measure temporary and illegal migrants • Target dates: December 2007 • Players: UNECE, OECD, Eurostat, U.S. Census Bureau

8. Output 1 a) A crosswalk of various (operational) definitions for immigrant stocks and flows • Foreign born • Foreign background • Country of usual residence • Long-term migrant • Short-term migrant

9. Output 1b) Definition of different typologies of migrants not included in the 1998 Recommendations • Temporary migrants • Labor migrants • Circular migrants • People who move repeatedly between different countries • Irregular migrants / undocumented migrants

10. Output 1 c) a compilation of current or emerging practices used in NSOs to measure temporary and unauthorized migrants • Collect methodology “best practices” from NSOs • Improved strategies to measure “difficult-to-measure” populations • Metadata for estimation methodology • Definitions of groups • Questions asked on surveys and censuses

11. Output 2: Design and administer pilot projects to assess implications of different duration thresholds: • Assess the consequences of using different durations (3 months, 6 months, one year) • Impact on flow estimates, composition, and net migration • Use a small, but representative, group of countries • Censuses vs. registers vs. samples or rolling samples

12. Output 2: Design and administer pilot projects to assess implications of different duration thresholds: • Target dates: End 2007 • Players: Australia and UNECE, Canada, United Kingdom, United States • Next steps: • Additional countries • Develop protocol

13. Output 3: Design and administer pilot projects to measure emigration using data collected by the receiving country: • Deficiencies in measuring out migration • Key questions • Can host country adequately measure change in immigration? • Is change consistent with other data sources? • Is method of analysis portable for use by other countries? • UNECE Pilot Project on Estimating Emigration (findings reported Monday)

14. Output 3: Design and administer pilot projects to measure emigration using data collected by the receiving country: • Players: UNECE (coordinator) • Group 1: Albania, FYR Macedonia, Italy, Switzerland; • Group 2: France, Portugal, Spain, United Kingdom; • Group 3: Australia, Canada, Czech Republic, FYR Macedonia, Italy, Norway, Poland, United Kingdom, United States; • Group 4: Estonia, Finland, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Norway, Russia. • Target dates: Accomplished 2006! • Next steps • Finalization of protocols for exchange, guidelines, other comments

15. Output 4: Define Residency Rules: • Residency rules for migrants (non-visitors) who are in a country less than 3 months • Residency rules for migrants who have been in a country more than 3 months and less than 12 months • Definition of temporary workers • Economic/Financial frameworks • Demographic frameworks • Target date: ?? • Players: ?? Global level?

16. Output 5: Recommend the definition and classification of remittances • When is a cross-border financial transaction a ‘remittance’? • Define and classify remittances • Accomplished • Next steps • Issue paper on harmonization of concepts between BOP and surveys • Expert group meeting? • Global context?

17. Output 6: Recommendations for improving international migration statistics • Reflecting the findings from Outputs 1-5 • Steering Committee to propose recommendations to improve collection and use of international migration statistics