Labor Market Impacts: Research
In Napa Valley, a world-famous wine-growing region, agriculture and manufacturing are major aspects of the regional economy. They are also sectors that have long relied on immigrant labor. This report examines the characteristics and economic contributions of Napa County’s immigrant residents and workers.
European employers are increasingly reporting difficulties finding workers with the right mix of skills, in sectors ranging from health care to information and communications technology. Alongside investments in workforce training and reskilling, a more joined-up EU approach to attracting and admitting immigrant workers with in-demand skills could help European societies address these shortages, as this report describes.
Gig work is on a meteoric rise, including on-demand driving, delivery, and home services, but also web-based translation, legal, and other services. In many countries, immigrants play a prominent role in the gig economy. Yet many governments have overlooked important questions at the intersection of labor, immigration, and immigrant integration policy, as this policy brief discusses.
Some of the strictest COVID-19 pandemic-era limits on human mobility occurred in the Asia Pacific region. Border closures started in East and Southeast Asia in early 2020 and quickly spread through the entire region, in some cases remaining in place for more than two years. This report examines the approaches countries took and reflects on the immense costs and benefits of using border measures to tackle public-health risks.
The COVID-19 pandemic’s impacts on mobility in the Middle East and North Africa were immediate and wide-reaching. These include the world’s largest and most sustained repatriation efforts for stranded migrants, halted and reversed irregular journeys, and a reckoning with some countries’ reliance on foreign labor. This report examines how these impacts varied across countries in this highly diverse region, as well as the uneven recovery.
The COVID-19 pandemic hit South American nations at a time when many were already contending with major migration challenges. Historic levels of intraregional migration and displacement, notably from Venezuela, collided with countries’ attempts to stop the spread of a new threat to public health. This report examines the region’s responses to the public-health crisis, and the immediate and lasting impacts on cross-border movement.
The story of the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe is chiefly one of challenges to solidarity and coordination. Cross-border movement—even within Europe’s Schengen Area—ground to a halt, and countries took varied approaches to using travel measures in an attempt to slow the virus’s spread. This report explores the pandemic’s impacts on mobility to and within Europe, its challenges to European solidarity, and lessons for future public-health crises.
U.S. employment-based visa policies, last updated in 1990, are not aligned with the country’s current and future labor market needs. This policy brief outlines MPI’s proposal for a new visa pathway that could help the United States better leverage immigration to meet its labor market needs, boost protections for both U.S.- and foreign-born workers, and flexibly adapt to future economic and demographic changes.
El desplazamiento de venezolanos ha llevado a países de toda América Latina y el Caribe a poner en marcha políticas y programas para registrar, regularizar y apoyar la integración de los venezolanos. Sin embargo, la medida en que la regularización ha ayudado a los venezolanos a encontrar trabajo ha variado de un país a otro, como se analiza en este informe.
Venezuelan displacement has prompted countries across Latin America and the Caribbean to launch policies and programs to register, regularize, and support the integration of arriving Venezuelans. However, the extent to which regular status has helped Venezuelans find work has varied from country to country, as this report discusses.
With millions of Ukrainians seeking safety in Europe, receiving countries are facing considerable pressure and also potential opportunities to benefit from this highly qualified population’s skills. This report explores displaced Ukrainians’ early employment outcomes, common challenges to finding jobs commensurate to their skills, and opportunities to more fully support their labor market integration.
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