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Valuing diversity: guidance for labour market integration of migrants

likely to become NEET when compared to other young people (Eurofound,
2012). The NEET rate for all youth is reportedly very high among south European
countries (around one third) (OECD, 2012a), being that the share of natives is
substantially lower than that of foreign-born. The NEET rate is significantly high in
Spain (38%), Greece (32%) and Italy (30%) and has grown very sharply in
Greece, at a notably higher rate for foreign-born. The lower access of foreign-
born youth to language skills, learning opportunities and social networks, makes
the situation even more critical for this group.
At the same time as a rise in at-risk migrant youth out of work or learning,
prospects are not necessarily very positive for those employed. Considering
immigrant population qualifications, and the requirements of the jobs in which
they are employed, we see a clear issue of overqualification among third-country
immigrants. This raises questions about immigrants having their qualifications
fully recognised, the impact of labour market discrimination, the effect of linguistic
barriers and cultural distance, and access to reliable information on how to
search for and retain a job in the receiving country.

Figure 18 Overqualification per country group of birth across the EU (2010) (%)
80

70
60

50

40
30

20
10

0

Total population Foreign EU Non-EU

Source: Eurostat, labour force survey.

Cedefop's research (Cedefop, 2011a) has further identified that
overqualification is stronger in countries with low rates of training: Greece, Spain
and Italy have participation rates in adult education under the EU average of 40%
(Eurostat, adult education survey, Participation rate in education and training,
online data code [trng_aes_100]) and with a lower proportion of skilled workers.

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