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Valuing diversity: guidance for labour market integration of migrants

EU labour market integration support and the role of

guidance

Since the late 90s the EU has worked steadily to build an integration framework
for migrants: common principles that countries share to engage immigrants with
the rules and obligations of countries, and states with the equally responsible
task of creating economic, social and cultural conditions for integration.
In 2009, the EU launched the blue card directive (Council of the European
Union, 2009) with the aim of attracting of third-country high-skilled labour and
facilitating their admission. The blue card also aids intra-EU mobility, grants
access to the labour market, social support and helps with family reunification.
Many European countries see the transposition of this directive as a main drive in
the reform of their immigrant integration systems.
In 2011 the single permit directive (European Parliament and Council of the
European Union, 2011) established fundamental rights for third-country workers
residing in the EU, covering entry, access to the labour market, access to social
protection and access to advising and counselling services. The renewed
European agenda for the integration of non-EU migrants (European Commission,
2011b) of the same year calls for coordinated action from the states to respond to
a range of challenges: the low employment levels of migrants, especially women;
the occurrence of skills mismatch; risks of social exclusion; gaps in educational
achievement; and public concerns with the lack of integration of migrants.
Guidance is expected to play a key role in supporting this process.
In lifelong guidance policy, the European Council resolutions (Council of the
European Union, 2004; 2008) which lay down the policy priorities for the
development of lifelong guidance systems, make direct reference to the
universality of service provision and the need to guarantee that groups at risk of
social exclusion (such as migrants) can develop career management skills (CMS)
that promote their adaptability to learning and work contexts.
The Bruges communiqué reserves a strategic role for guidance activities in
supporting the achievement of the European strategy for education and training.
In this are found fundamental activities for migrant integration, such as the
development of key skills, work-based learning, promotion of entrepreneurship
and the combat to educational disengagement.
The 2012 Council recommendation (Council of the European Union, 2012)
for the validation of informal and non-formal learning, attributes a central role to
guidance, with reference to the role these processes may play in reducing the
incidence of skills mismatch. One of the groups which can benefit from
accreditation of prior learning (APL) processes and consequent greater skills

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