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As workers and consumers, immigrants play a role in the labor markets and economies of the countries in which they settle. The research collected here examines how immigrants fare in the labor market, whether they are affected differently than native-born workers during cycles of boom and bust, the role of migration policymaking as a lever of competitiveness, employment of the foreign born by sector and skill, and the fiscal impacts of immigration. MPI's research also assesses the role of temporary workers and the labor recruitment process.

Recent Activity

Multimedia October 6, 2020 Is Airport COVID-19 Testing Ready for Takeoff?	Articles October 1, 2020 The U.S. Presidential Campaign Cements Political Parties’ Deepening Schism on Immigration By Muzaffar Chishti and Jessica Bolter
Reports September 2020 Driving Migrant Inclusion through Social Innovation: Lessons for Cities in a Pandemic By Liam Patuzzi	Policy Briefs September 2020 Brexit on the Backburner: Citizens’ Rights and the Implementation of the Withdrawal Agreement in a Pandemic By Aliyyah Ahad and Monica Andriescu
Articles September 16, 2020 College-Educated Immigrants in the United States By Kira Olsen-Medina and Jeanne Batalova	Policy Briefs September 2020 Inmigrantes venezolanos, crimen y percepciones falsas: Un análisis de los datos en Colombia, Perú y Chile By Dany Bahar, Meagan Dooley and Andrew Selee
Policy Briefs September 2020 Venezuelan Migration, Crime, and Misperceptions: A Review of Data from Colombia, Peru, and Chile By Dany Bahar, Meagan Dooley and Andrew Selee	Articles September 10, 2020 Gaps in India’s Treatment of Refugees and Vulnerable Internal Migrants Are Exposed by the Pandemic By Hamsa Vijayaraghavan

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Reports September 2014 Rotterdam: A Long-Time Port of Call and Home to Immigrants By Han Entzinger and Godfried Engbersen	Reports September 2014 Decentralising Immigrant Integration: Denmark’s Mainstreaming Initiatives in Employment, Education, and Social Affairs By Martin Bak Jørgensen
Reports September 2014 No Quick Fix: Policies to Support the Labor Market Integration of New Arrivals in Sweden By Henrik Emilsson	Reports August 2014 The City Brand: Champion of Immigrant Integration or Empty Marketing Tool? By Elizabeth Collett
Reports August 2014 Policies to Support Immigrant Entrepreneurship By Maria Vincenza Desiderio	Reports August 2014 Mainstreaming Immigrant Integration Policy in France: Education, Employment, and Social Cohesion Initiatives By Angéline Escafré-Dublet
Reports August 2014 Coordinating Immigrant Integration in Germany: Mainstreaming at the federal and local levels By Petra Bendel	Reports August 2014 The Human-Capital Needs of Tech City, London By Max Nathan

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ChinaBusinessman ChrisMarchant Flickr Edit

Feature

September 20, 2017

Millionaire Emigration: The Allure of Investor Visas among China’s Elite

Over the past decade, immigrant investor programs have proliferated around the world, and Chinese applicants have dominated in a number of countries. In 2015, about 9,000 Chinese millionaires moved to other countries, many through so-called golden visa programs. This article explores the social and cultural factors driving well-off Chinese to move abroad and examines perceptions of elite emigration in China.

Spotlight

August 31, 2017

Indian Immigrants in the United States

Immigrants from India are the second-largest foreign-born group in the United States, after Mexicans. Indian immigrants tend to be far more highly educated and have greater English proficiency than the foreign-born population overall. This Spotlight article offers the latest data on Indian immigrants, focusing on population size, state- and city-level distribution, occupation, educational attainment, and more.

Profile

August 24, 2017

From Emigration to Asylum Destination, Italy Navigates Shifting Migration Tides

Long a country of emigration—13 million Italians went abroad between 1880 and 1915—Italy has also experienced significant inflows of Middle Eastern and sub-Saharan African workers in recent decades. Italy has also been on the frontlines of Europe's refugee crisis. This country profile examines Italy's shifting migration patterns, policy responses over time, and debates.

Young people ride motorcycles in Batac, Philippines.

Profile

July 12, 2017

The Philippines: Beyond Labor Migration, Toward Development and (Possibly) Return

In the Philippines, a pervasive culture of migration has led millions to seek opportunities abroad, particularly since an economic downturn in the 1970s. The government has long embraced exporting labor as official economic policy, but over time, the focus has shifted: first to protecting workers overseas and much more recently to linking migration and development. This article explores the evolution of Filipino migration policy and trends.

Spotlight

June 28, 2017

Immigrant Health-Care Workers in the United States

Approximately 2.1 million immigrants work in health-care occupations in the United States, comprising nearly 17 percent of the 12.4 million doctors, nurses, dentists, and other health-care professionals. Learn more about immigrant health-care workers in the United States with this data-rich article, including top occupations nationally and by state, countries of origin, educational levels, visa pathways, and much more.

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Video, Audio

April 12, 2010

Immigrant Legalization: Assessing Labor Market Effects

Public Policy Institute of California researchers Magnus Lofstrom and Laura Hill discuss their research examining the potential labor market outcomes and other possible economic effects of a legalization program.

Video, Audio

December 2, 2009

Illegal Immigration's Effects on the U.S. Economy and Policy

Illegal immigration's overall impact on the U.S. economy is negligible, despite clear benefits for employers and unauthorized immigrants and slightly depressed wages for low-skilled native workers, according to UCSD Professor of Economics Gordon Hanson.

Video

October 28, 2009

Talent, Competitiveness, and Migration

This book release and discussion focused on the accumulation of talent and its effects on economic growth and migration trends.

Audio

July 30, 2009

The Next Generation of E-Verify: Getting Employer Verification Right

This webinar examines the E-Verify system, offering short- and long-term recommendations for improving gaps in employment verification and addressing an "employer-centric" design that exacerbates existing problems.

Video

July 20, 2009

E-Verify: An Assessment of its Strengths and Weaknesses

This discussion focuses on E-Verify, the federal government's electronic employment verification system, and the release of an MPI report that assesses the program's strengths and weaknesses.

Recent Activity

Video

April 22, 2020

Immigration and the U.S.-Mexico Border during the Pandemic: A Conversation with Members of Congress

In this bipartisan discussion, two border-state members of Congress—Rep. Veronica Escobar and Rep. Dan Crenshaw—discuss the response to the coronavirus outbreak, how it is affecting the interconnected border region, and what the future might hold.

Articles

April 10, 2020

Venezuelan Immigrants in the United States

Until recently, the Venezuelan immigrant population in the United States was relatively small compared others from South America. But it has grown significantly, reaching 394,000 in 2018, as Venezuela's destabilization has driven large-scale emigration. Compared to other immigrants in the United States, Venezuelans have higher levels of education but are also more likely to live in poverty, as this Spotlight explores.

Commentaries

April 2020

As U.S. Health-Care System Buckles under Pandemic, Immigrant & Refugee Professionals Could Represent a Critical Resource

In a time of critical shortages of U.S. health-care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic, retired doctors are being called back to work and medical students are graduating on a fast track. There is another important pool that could be tapped: Immigrants and refugees who have college degrees in health fields but are working in low-skilled jobs or out of work. MPI estimates 263,000 immigrants are experiencing skill underutilization and could be a valuable resource.

Articles

April 2, 2020

Africa Deepens its Approach to Migration Governance, But Are Policies Translating to Action?

While migration once was a lower-priority topic for African governments, the last decade has seen a deepening in governance. Policymakers have integrated migration into their national development strategies and mainstreamed it across policy domains such as health and education. The actions are promising on paper, yet questions remain about the extent to which they will translate to more effective migration management.

Expert Q&A, Audio

March 31, 2020

Expert Podcast: Meeting Seasonal Labor Needs in the Age of COVID-19

Governments are facing urgent pandemic-related questions. One of the more pressing ones: Who is going to harvest crops in countries that rely heavily on seasonal foreign workers? In this podcast, MPI experts examine ways in which countries could address labor shortages in agriculture, including recruiting native-born workers and letting already present seasonal workers stay longer. Catch an interesting discussion as border closures have halted the movement of seasonal workers even as crops are approaching harvest in some places.

Commentaries

March 2020

A Race Against the Clock: Meeting Seasonal Labor Needs in the Age of COVID-19

As governments have reacted to the coronavirus pandemic by closing borders, seasonal workers have been kept out, raising a pressing question: who is going to produce the food amid agricultural labor shortages? Policymakers in the Asia Pacific, Europe, and North America have responded by seeking to recruit residents, lengthen stays for already present seasonal workers, and find ways to continue admitting foreign seasonal labor, as this commentary explores.

Fact Sheets

March 2020

Immigrant Workers: Vital to the U.S. COVID-19 Response, Disproportionately Vulnerable

Six million immigrant workers are at the frontlines of keeping U.S. residents healthy and fed during the COVID-19 pandemic, representing disproportionate shares of physicians, home health aides, and retail-store pharmacists, for example. They also are over-represented in sectors most immediately devastated by mass layoffs, yet many will have limited access to safety-net systems and to federal relief, as this fact sheet details.

Articles

March 26, 2020

Crisis within a Crisis: Immigration in the United States in a Time of COVID-19

The global COVID-19 pandemic has brought into sharp focus the intersection of U.S. immigration and public health policy, and the unique challenges that immigrants face. This article analyzes the Trump administration’s introduction of some of the most stringent immigration restrictions in modern times, the often disparate fallout of the outbreak on immigrant communities, the status of federal immigration agency operations, and more.

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