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Valuing diversity: guidance for labour market integration of migrants

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recommendations ( ), suggest that particular rigidities need to be addressed
particularly for Belgium and Sweden. In Sweden, immigrant youth integration in
the labour market is deemed to be very low and measures such as
apprenticeships and work-based learning should be intensified. In Belgium, it is
suggested that the labour market measures have been too general and not
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sufficiently inclusive ( ).
Third-country nationals’ unemployment rates for women compared to men
are not so distinct, in spite of average better outcomes for men. In some
countries (such as Spain and Ireland) third-country female unemployment rates
are lower, as migrant women have been less affected by the crisis than foreign-
born men.
Between 2008 and 2011, in Ireland and Spain, employment for foreign-born
women fell by only half of migrant male employment (nearly 16% reduction).
Similarly, the employment rate of foreign-born women in Greece and Portugal
decreased only by 1.6% and 1% respectively, while that of migrant men fell by
14% and 10%. In Germany, Austria, the United Kingdom the employment rate of
foreign-born women has increased.
While immigrant women are much less represented in the (formal) labour
market than men, these results show some resilience of female migrant
employment in the present recession. This is partly explained by the sector
distribution of female employment, much less attached than the male to the
activities severely hit by the crisis.
Youth has been strongly hit by the crisis, especially in the case of foreign-
born, with young foreign workers strongly affected as temporary unemployment
has risen substantially between 2008 and 2011. The temp trap, in which young
people find themselves, has been widely accepted as a serious issue, with
potential damaging effects over the full career of individuals (scarring effect).
Young foreign-born have been more dramatically affected than young nationals
by the rise in temporary employment.
It should also be noted that a large share of young foreign-born are neither
employed nor enrolled in education and training (NEET). According to a recent
Eurofound report, young people with an immigration background are 70% more

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( ) To ensure coordination of individual national efforts towards EU 2020 targets, the
European Commission has set up a yearly cycle of economic policy coordination
called the European semester. The Commission undertakes a yearly detailed
analysis of EU Member States' programmes of economic and structural reforms and
provides recommendations for the following 12 to18 months.
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( ) http://ec.europa.eu/europe2020/making-it-happen/country-specific-
recommendations/ [accessed 18.3.2014].

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