E.g., 04/16/2024
E.g., 04/16/2024
Skills

Skills

Skills

Foreign-born workers increasingly can be found in occupations across the skills spectrum in many countries—high-, middle-, and low-skilled. While much of the focus in advanced economies is on immigrants in high- and low-skilled professions, an increasing share are working in middle-skilled jobs. The research here examines immigrant workers by skill levels—which sectors they are working in, what share of the workforce they constitute, and how they fare compared to their native-born peers.

Recent Activity

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Commentaries
June 2017
Immigrants and the New Brain Gain: Ways to Leverage Rising Educational Attainment
By  Jeanne Batalova and Michael Fix
New Brain Gain: Rising Human Capital among Recent Immigrants to the United States
Fact Sheets
June 2017
New Brain Gain: Rising Human Capital among Recent Immigrants to the United States
By  Jeanne Batalova and Michael Fix
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Reports
March 2017
The Long Road Ahead: Status Report on the Implementation of the ASEAN MRAs on Professional Services
By  Dovelyn Rannveig Mendoza and Guntur Sugiyarto
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Reports
March 2017
Improving the Labour Market Integration of Migrants and Refugees: Empowering Cities through Better Use of EU Instruments
By  Kate Hooper, Maria Vincenza Desiderio and Brian Salant
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Multimedia
February 28, 2017
Reducing Integration Barriers Facing Foreign-Trained Immigrants: Policy and Practice Lessons from Across the United States
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Reports
February 2017
Unlocking Skills: Successful Initiatives for Integrating Foreign-Trained Immigrant Professionals
By  Margie McHugh and Madeleine Morawski
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Reports
February 2017
Firing Up Regional Brain Networks: The Promise of Brain Circulation in the ASEAN Economic Community
By  Jeanne Batalova, Andriy Shymonyak and Guntur Sugiyarto
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Reports
February 2017
Reinventing Mutual Recognition Arrangements: Lessons from International Experiences and Insights for the ASEAN Region
By  Dovelyn Rannveig Mendoza, Demetrios G. Papademetriou, Maria Vincenza Desiderio, Brian Salant, Kate Hooper and Taylor Elwood

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Reports
April 2014
Catching Up: The Labor Market Outcomes of New Immigrants in Sweden
By  Pieter Bevelander and Nahikari Irastorza
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Reports
March 2014
A Precarious Position: The Labor Market Integration of New Immigrants in Spain
By  Núria Rodríguez-Planas and Natalia Nollenberger
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Reports
March 2014
A Tumultuous Decade: Employment Outcomes of Immigrants in the Czech Republic
By  Daniel Münich
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Reports
December 2013
Skilled Immigrants in the Global Economy: Prospects for International Cooperation on Recognition of Foreign Qualifications
By  Madeleine Sumption, Demetrios G. Papademetriou and Sarah Flamm
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Reports
November 2013
Building New Skills: Immigration and Workforce Development in Canada
By  Karen Myers and Natalie Conte
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Reports
November 2013
The Immigrant Workforce in Germany: Formal and Informal Barriers to Addressing Skills Deficits
By  Stefan Speckesser
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Reports
November 2013
Maximizing Human Capital in a Rapidly Evolving Economic Landscape (Transatlantic Council Statement)
By  Demetrios G. Papademetriou
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Policy Briefs
October 2013
What We Know About Migration and Development
By  Kathleen Newland

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Recent Activity

Commentaries
June 2017

Immigrants and the New Brain Gain: Ways to Leverage Rising Educational Attainment

A recent MPI study reveals that 48 percent of recent immigrants to the United States were college graduates, a sharp increase over earlier periods. How can the United States better leverage this brain gain? This commentary outlines some policies that could allow the United States to more fully utilize the professional and academic credentials that highly skilled immigrants have, for their benefit and that of the U.S. economy.

Fact Sheets
June 2017

New Brain Gain: Rising Human Capital among Recent Immigrants to the United States

Nearly half of immigrant adults arriving in the U.S. since 2011 have a college degree—a far higher share than a quarter-century ago, when just 27 percent did. This striking but little noted shift in the composition of recent immigrant flows, driven in part by rising migration from Asia, comes as some policymakers press for a "merit-based" immigration system. This fact sheet examines rising human capital at U.S. and state levels.

Reports
March 2017

The Long Road Ahead: Status Report on the Implementation of the ASEAN MRAs on Professional Services

While it has been years since the Association of Southeast Asian Nations signed accords to facilitate the movement of professionals in seven occupations, implementation of these Mutual Recognition Arrangements remains "painfully slow and uneven across countries." This final report in an MPI-Asian Development Bank series explores MRA implementation by sector, and offers recommendations to help achieve the goal of greater skill mobility in Southeast Asia.

Reports
March 2017

Improving the Labour Market Integration of Migrants and Refugees: Empowering Cities through Better Use of EU Instruments

Cities have played a significant role in addressing Europe’s migration crisis, including by helping migrants and refugees integrate successfully into the local labor market. This report identifies concrete actions that could be taken to better leverage European Union soft law, funding, and knowledge exchange mechanisms to support cities’ activities in this area and to deliver more effective services.

 

Video, Audio, Webinars
February 28, 2017

Reducing Integration Barriers Facing Foreign-Trained Immigrants: Policy and Practice Lessons from Across the United States

Marking the release of a report on the barriers foreign-trained high-skilled immigrants face in the United States, this webinar examines programs and initiatives that assist with credential recognition, employment, and relicensure, as well as recent policy developments. Discussants review recommendations for community-based organizations, employers, and policymakers to expand successful efforts aimed at preventing brain waste. 

Reports
February 2017

Unlocking Skills: Successful Initiatives for Integrating Foreign-Trained Immigrant Professionals

Nearly 2 million college-educated immigrants in the United States, more than half coming with academic and professional credentials, are unable to fully utilize their professional skills and instead are stuck in low-skilled work or are unemployed. This report explores a range of programs and policies that are providing cutting-edge career navigation, relicensing, gap filling, and job search assistance to remedy this brain waste.

Reports
February 2017

Firing Up Regional Brain Networks: The Promise of Brain Circulation in the ASEAN Economic Community

Given diverging demographics, rising educational attainment and wide variation in economic opportunities, countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations are poised to see an expansion of both the demand for and supply of skilled migrants willing and able to move. The convergence of these megatrends represents unique opportunities for human-capital development and brain circulation, as this report explores.

Reports
February 2017

Reinventing Mutual Recognition Arrangements: Lessons from International Experiences and Insights for the ASEAN Region

As Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Member States work to facilitate the movement of professionals, the experiences of other countries hold promise for policymakers and licensing bodies in Southeast Asia as they deepen implementation of mutual recognition arrangements (MRAs) that seek to establish a uniform and transparent way of recognizing the qualifications of foreign workers. This report offers key lessons.

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