Page 117 - valuing-diversity-guidance-for-labour-market-integration-of-migrants

Valuing diversity: guidance for labour market integration of migrants

network of stakeholders which includes all relevant public authorities,
employers and immigrant communities;
(g) recognition of foreign qualifications and validation of prior learning
experiences are key for immigrant integration but are still opaque,
bureaucratic and difficult to access by lower-qualified immigrants, with more
limited linguistic and ICT skills. SMEs interviewed feel the same fundamental
difficulties, and also incur in time and financial costs when they engage in
the hiring of immigrants who may require recognition or validation
processes. Further simplification of procedures and better information and
guidance to both immigrants and SMEs on this level is appropriate;
(h) some countries have established dedicated portals in several languages to
help both immigrants and employers. Others have also opted for centralising
procedures in one agency, to create clearer, more efficient and more
accessible guidance services;
(i) labour market information for both immigrants and hiring enterprises can be
improved. There is documented unequal access to this information for lower-
qualified immigrants and for SMEs relative to their more qualified and bigger
peers, respectively;
(j) a systematic evidence base on the efficacy of integration measures would
allow for better accountability of practices and for better criteria in the
selection of the approaches;
(k) although practitioners and other agents receive multicultural training, it is not
always clear what the content of this training is, its sufficiency, coverage and
the degree of public commitment to its adoption.

107