LFS module 2008 Labour market situation of migrants and their immediate descendants

1. Directors of Social Statistics 28-29 September 2005 LFS module 2008 Labour market situation of migrants and their immediate descendants

2. Directors of Social Statistics 28-29 September 2005 Introduction • Background • Policy needs • Aims of the LFS module • Advantages of using a LFS module • Definition of the group of interest for the feasibility study • Areas of concern for the feasibility of the LFS module • Conclusions

3. Directors of Social Statistics 28-29 September 2005 Background • Programme of LFS modules 2007-2009 • September 2004 DSS meeting • High policy interest of the module • Need to set up a Task force to examine the methodological difficulties expected • Implementation of the module conditional upon the results of a feasibility study • Engagement of the ESS to provide the statistics needed • Task force Feasibility of the LFS module 2008 • DK, DE, ES, FR, HU, AT, UK, CH and OECD • 3 meetings from Dec. 2004 to June 2005 • Final report

4. Directors of Social Statistics 28-29 September 2005 Policy needs • June 2003, Thessaloniki European Council • It called for "an accurate and objective analysis of immigration and integration policies, to help develop policy initiatives for more effective management of migration in Europe". • Reinforced in the "Hague Programme" (November 2004, European Council) • European Employment Strategy - Employment Guidelines (2005-2008), Guidelines 19 and 20 • G.19 stated that combating discrimination, promoting access to employment and integrating migrants and minorities are essential. • G. 20 refers to appropriate management of economic migration to improve the matching of labour market needs. • Data on situation of migrants and their descendants are also important for monitoring Social Inclusion Process

5. Directors of Social Statistics 28-29 September 2005 Policy needs Shrinking and ageing labour force political debate on the management of immigration to increase labour supply. Need of a forward-looking approach to • Promote better integration of new and established migrants, in particular by eliminating barriers to access to employment • Prepare for economic integration of future migrants • Therefore • Clear need to improve knowledge base concerning integration of migrants and their descendants in the labour market and factors affecting their integration • Availability of comparable data at Community level is crucial

6. Directors of Social Statistics 28-29 September 2005 Aims of the LFS module • To provide data on the labour market situation of different groups of interest (e.g. EU nationals/non EU nationals, EU migrants/non EU migrants, migrants/descendants of migrants) • Indicators on employment, unemployment by gender, age groups, level of qualification… • Structural labour market information including sectoral and occupational employment structure and qualification composition. • => The core LFS provides a wide range of relevant and necessary labour market related variables as well as variables that will assist in the identification of the groups of interest.

7. Directors of Social Statistics 28-29 September 2005 Aims of the LFS module • To provide data on the integration in and adaptation to the labour market and on the factors affecting this integration / adaptation • E.g. Participation in labour market integration and training programmes • E.g. Lack of access to employment due to language issues, recognition of skills, discriminatory barriers and other labour market access restrictions • => A Task Force would be established in order to define the contents and to develop the specifications of the LFS module 2008 (target groups, topics and variables).

8. Directors of Social Statistics 28-29 September 2005 Advantages of using a LFS module • The theme is clearly labour market related • The policy needs focus on the integration on the labour market of migrants and their immediate descendants and on factors affecting their integration • Current LFS data on the foreign-born population are already heavily used for analytical purposes • The LFS allows to link structural and quarterly labour market variables with those of the module • Mutual benefits for the module and the core LFS

9. Directors of Social Statistics 28-29 September 2005 • Advantages of using a LFS module • Benefits from the LFS modules system • Know how in preparing LFS modules • Quite likely to be repeated in the coming years • Already a legal framework • New policy on grants allows to finance a LFS module.

10. Directors of Social Statistics 28-29 September 2005 • Definition of the group of interest for the feasibility study • Persons aged 15-74 • who were born abroad or • who were born in the host country with at least one parent born abroad (current national borders). • Definition based on the LFS core variable Country of birth • Optional variable filled by all countries except DE and BG. In 2008, both would be able to provide the variable or a close proxy. • Other specific issues related to this variable would be analysed with the specifications of the module.

11. Directors of Social Statistics 28-29 September 2005 Main areas of concern for the feasibility of the LFS module The TF identified several areas of concern: • reliability • non-response • coverage • other quality related topics.

12. Directors of Social Statistics 28-29 September 2005 Reliability • The main concern was: Is the size of the LFS sample big enough to provide reliable results? • As no information available on country of birth of parents, the TF only considered the population of « persons born abroad » for the estimations • TF criteria for the estimation of the total number of migrants or a characteristic like the employment rate (say 50%) • Coefficient of variation of 1.8% • This would require a sub-sample of approximately 3,000 persons (disregarding the design effect)

13. Directors of Social Statistics 28-29 September 2005 Reliability • The present LFS sample would be big enough to provide reliable results for 13 countries: DE, EL, ES, FR, IE, IT, LU, NL, AT, SE, UK, BE and CH • For CZ, DK, EE, CY, LV, LT, HU, PL, PT, SI, FI, NO, HR who have presently between 1,000 and 3,000 persons born abroad in the LFS sample: • The number of migrants is expected to increase • The estimation is the result of the present non-response rates and coverage. Improvements in these areas will increase the sample size • These countries represent 2.4 millions of persons born abroad • The results would still be useful at national level although not all desired cross-tabulations will be reliable • For SK, MT, BG, RO and IS - presently less than 1,000 • Possible implementation of the module in a restricted form

14. Directors of Social Statistics 28-29 September 2005 Reliability • Contribution of all countries is important for the EU aggregates • For the module on migrants, the reliability standards planned are in general more stringent than for other LFS modules

15. Directors of Social Statistics 28-29 September 2005 Non-response • Non-response is higher among migrants • Several measures with greater financial support could improve the response rate, both for the module and for the related core variables in the LFS • Response rates can be improved with actions plans based on evaluations of: • Impact of face-to-face or telephone interviews in relation to response rates for migrants • The use of fixed or mobile telephone numbers • The use of translated questionnaires • Providing native language interviewers • The use of an introductory letter in several languages • These measures need to be tested with pilot studies

16. Directors of Social Statistics 28-29 September 2005 Coverage • Concerns related to coverage of the following sub-populations: • migrant living in collective households, • asylum seekers, • illegal immigrants, • newly arrived / recent migrants, • short-term migrants • The information provided for these subgroups might be of limited quality. For this reason, at the stage of the definition of the variables, work should be concentrated in sub-populations with sufficient quality.

17. Directors of Social Statistics 28-29 September 2005 Other quality issues • The following topics were analyzed by the TF in the feasibility study • clustering of migrants in urban areas, • coherence between LFS data on migrants and census or register data • the incidence of proxy interviews • In general, all these quality issues are not an obstacle to the implementation • Clear actions combined with specific studies can be conducted in the next 2 years to improve the situation.

18. Directors of Social Statistics 28-29 September 2005 Conclusions • There is an engagement of the ESS to provide these statistics (DSS Sept 2004) • As result of the feasibility study, the TF has considered the module on migrants as feasible • Problematic areas should be skipped at the stage of variable definition avoiding breakdowns without sufficient quality. • Other areas as non-response can be improved with pilot studies to prepare the implementation and allowing higher cost during the field work • The module is an opportunity to improve the quality of non- national data, both in the core LFS and in the module itself.

19. Directors of Social Statistics 28-29 September 2005 Conclusions • A module attached to the LFS enriches the possibilities of analysis linking the variables of the module with those quarterly and structural in the core LFS • The already existing legal framework of the LFS set a clear procedure to follow. An implementation regulation needs to be presented to the SPC for approval by November 2006. Otherwise alternative data collection would need the development of a new Council/EP Regulation • As a LFS module, the funding of the projects is straightforward. Any alternative solution needs to be consistent with the new grant policy.

20. Directors of Social Statistics 28-29 September 2005 Conclusions • The demand of this statistics will strongly increase in the future. Thus it is better to start now and to have the possibility to repeat and improve the module in the coming years • If after defining the module, major problems still exit for a particular country, the Commission is open to consider derogations if justified, when the Commission regulation is presented to the SPC for approval in Nov 2006.