Integration of Migrants into the Labour Market in Europe: Volume 25

In 2015, Europe faced an unprecedented inflow of refugees and migrants. Political instability at the continent's peripheries contributed to an accumulative exodus. This resulted in large immigration waves fleeing mainly from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq as well as from other North African countries. Europe was confronted with an increasing number of asylum applications and had to accommodate over a million people (Clayton, 2015). The crisis in Europe has been framed both as a migration crisis and as a crisis within the European Union (EU). The Dublin Regulation, of 2013, requires only one Member state to process the asylum applications. During the pressing period of 2015, the notion of responsibility sharing resulted in heated debates between South and Central and Eastern European states. Several countries like Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary expressed openly antimigrant opinions, which resulted in even more confusion and mismanagement of the migration crisis in the EU. Analyzing the crisis from the macro, meso and micro level, it was evident that the crisis was multifaceted.

The slogan ‘not in my backyard’ became a symbol of a successful campaign in a psychological war waged by the Soviet Union against the United States and the NATO allies. Russians have already placed their cruise missiles in firing positions, but tried to prevent the US Army from doing the same on the other side of the Iron Curtain, namely in the NATO countries. Misguided citizens of the welfare states on the western side of the Iron Curtain demonstrated for disarmament in spite of Soviet secret build up of the missile stockpile. The EU citizens and their intellectual elites never dealt with the Russian communist genocide and underestimated hidden injuries of the Cold War. Today, when Soviet secret decisions leaked out due to a temporary access to the communist archives in Moscow, even carefully orchestrated campaigns in social media cannot change facts and wipe awareness out. This time it is the financial level of military expenditures, which is questioned by Russian trolls in the social media of the Dutch, German or French populations. Apart from military expenditures of NATO member states, Russian troll campaigns are also directed towards the support of multicultural ideologies and welcoming all immigrants. At first sight, they are as successful with the immigrants as they were with the cruise missiles. Most respondents in the Netherlands claim that immigrants are welcome – provided they settle down somewhere else – anywhere, but not in my backyard. Perhaps in my neighbour's backyard, behind national borders? In Turkey, Greece, Hungary, Poland, Italy, Spain – anywhere (but not here)? This is the message defining the subtle brand of a Dutch xenophobia, phrased in a politically correct way. Nobody, except extreme right (e.g., Wilders) or extreme libertarians (e.g., Baudet), dares to spell it out – and yet it haunts all political debates. A spectrum is truly haunting Europe – a spectrum of mass migrations. Are all forces uniting against it? No, but even the most ardent believers in welcoming Third World masses in the first world infrastructures conclude that good fences do good neighbours make or that a sound democracy requires solid territorial borders. Or does it? And what does this turn of political mind tell us about the values of Enlightenment?

Migration is an increasing challenge faced by countries, institutions and individuals both for sending and host countries. The integration of migrants is a multidimensional issue, including several areas, for example, social, cultural, economic, legal and politics. These dimensions can strengthen each other in equal areas, but the economic and social dimensions seem to be the most important regarding immigrant inclusion in the society of the country of settlement.

In a macro perspective, there have been few national models of integrating migrants which are culturally and historically specific in various European countries, but the current approach is focussing on interculturalism.

Considering migrant integration in a meso perspective, one may point to the growing importance of multilevel governance engaging many actors in this process (e.g., municipalities, cities, nongovernmental organizations, SMEs, corporations, churches, etc.), which are partners for national-level policymakers.

The individual effort for successful integration of migrants depends on the host country nationals' attitude, openness and tolerance as well as on incoming foreigners.

Poland has traditionally been perceived as a net emigration country. The scale of the recent inflow of foreigners to the country, however, places Poland among those states of growing attractiveness to migrants. Therefore, the main aim of this chapter is to present the Polish model of integration policy and describe the development of Poland's migration and integration policy at the national level. As the local perspective on migration and integration has become increasingly important, local policies are also presented through the example of several of the largest Polish cities. Additionally, the role of public discourse in shaping Polish society's attitude towards migrants is discussed. Finally, some aspects of economic migrants' integration are described.

Poland still lacks a long-term and comprehensive migration and integration policy that covers all areas of integration, and all categories of immigrants and so far only once, for a short period, has adopted migration policy at a national level. There is also little coordination among the different governmental bodies that deal with this issue. Therefore, only some of the crucial elements of integration policy at a national level, like the liberalization of the labour market, have occurred successfully. It seems that local policies, especially in large cities, have addressed more precisely various issues faced by immigrants, not only related to employment, and could foster the process of integration.

Foreign immigration is one of the most important recent changes in Italy. As a consequence, similarly to the traditional European receiving countries, the process of integration of immigrants has also become a crucial political issue in Italy. Labour market insertion of migrants is one of the key points of integration. In this chapter, we aim to provide a broad and updated overview of the migrant situation in the Italian labour market. Empirical evidence suggests that the crisis almost equally hits foreigners and Italian workers, without affecting the structural difference of treatments of these two groups. One of the aims of this work is to evaluate if the gap in terms of integration in the labour market and employment probability between foreigners and Italians has widened or decreased, considering that the labour market is probably the main channel of the integration process. The analysis is structured using a multinomial logit model and some contingency descriptive statistics exploiting, together with regular socio-demographic variables, regional and macro-area differences. The data come from the Italian Labour Force Survey (LFS) provided by ISTAT – Italian National Institute of Statistics – a quarterly survey with a rotating sample that provides an extensive overview of Italian labour market actors. Results show that foreigners have a greater employment probability than Italian natives, a probability that turns out to be better for those who arrived in Italy between 2000 and 2004. Nonetheless, foreigners are largely employed in low-paying or underqualified jobs, returning a low-profile picture of foreigners' integration in the Italian labour market.

Ukraine's immigration policy is in a state of formation, and its legal framework is being constantly improved. The level of immigration in Ukraine remains low. Foreigners often view Ukraine not as a desirable place of residence, but as a transit territory, a convenient corridor or a jumping-off place for realization on the path to a dream destination – living in Europe. The evaluation of the features of immigrants' integration in Ukraine is conducted.

The authors investigate the peculiarities of the immigration process in Ukraine and identify common problems associated with the integration of migrants into Ukrainian society. The lack of statistical data causes some obstacles to immigrant integration research in Ukraine.

The aim of this chapter is to present the integration policy and practices provided at a national macro level. The most significant challenges of migrants' integration into the Ukrainian society require solving via social, cultural, economic and legal structures. Moreover, Ukraine's immigration policy should be improved and integrated into EU standards.

Spain has undergone a series of significant economic changes over the last decade, and the country has subsequently been faced with huge challenges in its efforts to integrate migrants into the labour market. With this in mind, the purpose of the following chapter is to analyse the Spanish labour market in the light of the new realities resulting from the effects of immigration and an increasingly pluralistic, open society. It covers Spain's achievements as well as the challenges that lie ahead, bearing in mind the global situation as well as the new social configuration of a country that has received such large numbers of migrants and refugees.

On a meso-level, various institutions play a fundamental role in the way migrants adjust to the economic, social, cultural and political spheres of Spanish society. The authors described various practices implemented by Spanish ‘business actors’, unions and NGOs for the labour integration. This research shows that coordination between the various employment policies at the meso-level has had a key influence on Spain's integration of migrants.

This chapter reviews the integration experiences and policies in Germany before and after the so-called “refugee crisis’. Chancellor Angela Merkel's famous words ‘wir schaffen das’ (we manage this) have mobilized both policy actions and a massive grassroots engagement. In this context, we discuss the scope, efficiency and impact of German integration and adaptation policies. We review critically how Germany has dealt institutionally with immigration in the past and how it has adjusted its institutional approach to deal with the refugee crisis. Furthermore, in a case study on integration policies in higher education, we highlight the interplay between institutional approaches and grassroots engagement to achieve integration objectives. We argue that to a certain extent, the refugee crisis has acted as a catalyst for Germany to come to terms with its long-denied status as an immigration country.

In line with the main idea of the book, this chapter deals mostly with the structural or socio-economic dimension of integration, with a special focus on labour market inclusion. The integration of immigrants in the Czech labour market is viewed from an institutional and organizational perspective. The main emphasis of the chapter is on immigration from outside the EU. The author first provides an outline of the general trends in labour migration since the beginning of the century and analyzes the impact of selected labour market–related migration and integration policies and practices. Based on an analysis of policy documents, official statistics and available sociological research, the text discusses some major challenges to the successful integration of immigrants in the Czech labour market, with a special focus on the main actors and institutions involved in the process. In her analysis of the integration process, the author discusses the regulatory (or rather restrictive) role of Czech employment offices, the symbolic (or rather ineffective) role of trade unions and, last but not least, the crucial role of Czech NGOs working with non-EU immigrants. The latter are seen as key facilitators of migrant integration and not only in terms of their operative function (e.g. working in the field and assisting immigrants) but also in advocating for immigrants' rights.

This chapter discusses findings from a multiple case study of language learning programmes offered to adult migrant learners in Cyprus, Scotland, Malta and Estonia. First, using a cross-comparative policy analysis, the discussion synthesizes indicators of integration embedded in education policies and provisions for adult migrant learners. This analysis brings to light an overall inclusive approach: providers and programmes emerged as comparable in terms of type of programmes (formal, informal and nonformal; academic, vocational and interest-based); options available (academic, vocational and interest-based) and providers (state and civil society). However, policy analysis also illuminates restrictive indicators, such as traits of monocultural, generalizing policymaking that lacks consideration of sociodemographic differences between adult migrant learners. Secondly, the discussion validates the synthesized indicators by means of an analysis of qualitative data concerning the language programmes and related micro classroom-based practices, retrieved using qualitative research with adult migrant learners, their educators and related policy executives. Validated indicators include an inclusive approach to learners' entitlement to educational provision, as testified by educators' and policy executives' values and pedagogical approaches. Indeed, despite traits of monoculturalism and generalizing or homogenizing approaches identified at policy level, micro context data illuminated stakeholders' critical acknowledgement of the need of differentiated teaching and learning. Research-based recommendations include increased cooperation between state entities (e.g., inter-ministerial collaboration) and between state and civil societies, as well as professional development for adult educators that elicits their agency in proactively resisting and changing restrictive aspects of existent policies and practices.

The continued flow of immigrants in various countries, including Finland, has made it necessary to assess their level of integration for both academic and policy reasons. Despite the proliferation of multiple immigration integration indices, none of them are irreproachable. The indicators of integration levels are context-dependent. The index should also be both standardized to facilitate cross-comparative research and flexible to be relevant across multiple contexts. The choice of the unit of analysis also alters the definition of integration.

The main purpose of this study is to identify the indicators of immigration integration levels at the individual level in the Finnish context. Thereafter, a combined index identifying six types of integration measures – psychological, linguistic, economic, political, social and navigational – based on the Immigration Policy Lab (IPL) Integration Index, is administered to foreigners in Finland (N = 86). The sample consists of young (20–40), highly educated individuals, from 36 different countries who have migrated to Finland predominantly for family and study purposes.

The results show that immigrants who have stayed longer in Finland and are highly educated display higher levels of integration. Immigrants who are naturalized citizens display higher levels of integration across all dimensions. IPL Integration Index performs in the expected direction and can be applied across Finland in a larger random sample, after slight modifications, to increase generalizability. The study further suggests that Finnish immigration integration schemes focus excessively on macrolevel policies aiming at linguistic, economic and navigational integration of new immigrants at the cost of individual psychosocial integration of well-established immigrants.

Migrants and refugees from around the world flee to European countries to avoid situations of hardship, persecution and violence. The integration of refugees and migrants is a challenging issue. Despite diffused cosmopolitan attitudes and internationalized aspirations, people are often negatively predisposed against migrants and refugees. There are many cultural barriers to overcome in order to reduce tensions between foreign cultures and host communities.

The integration of migrants embraces immigrants' willingness and openness to learn and adapt their attitudes to the host environment; on the other hand, natives must also be prepared to accept the changes that immigrants can bring.

Digital technology can support the process of integration, providing access to online language learning programmes and health-related services, or offering opportunities to gather information and socialize. However, whilst the same digital technologies are shared by migrants and host communities, different processes of technology appropriation can limit their benefits for refugees' and migrants' integration.

This chapter focuses on digital social innovation (DSI) and the social inclusion of migrants and refugees. It also analyzes how innovative digital solutions can overcome ambivalence concerning cultural diversity. Integration should foster pluralism but, at the same time, should preserve cultural identity and linguistic diversity as well as improve economic and social participation.

The first step is designing DSI solutions avoiding the stereotype that immigrants are a homogeneous social group. Digital technology can support the implementation of multi-context applications whilst the information society may be the common cultural environment shared by all. This chapter also illustrates some relevant digitally based initiatives developed in Italy.