At the occasion of the International Migrants Day on Wednesday 18 December, the OECD raises attention on the issue of discrimination against immigrants and their children in OECD countries.

This report is a summary of the major policy issues raised at discussions among experts and practitioners from various international organizations and several Asian countries at the “Third Roundtable on Labor Migration: Assessing Labor Market Requirements for Foreign Workers and Policies for Regional Skills Mobility.”

The International Migration Division at the OECD together with the European Commission (DG Employment, Social affairs and Inclusion) organise a conference on migration and mobility and how to match economic migration with labour market needs.

The migration of women is a growing phenomenon in most countries. About half of all international migrants are women, according to OECD data. Over the years, the body of knowledge on the participation of highly skilled women to migration flows has increased but despite this growing knowledge, there is low visibility of research findings for policy makers and multilateral organizations.

This first edition of Migration Policy Debates looks at the magnitude and characteristics of the migration movements to Europe and the OECD and at how have they evolved over time.

This edition of Migration Policy Debates looks at the evidence for how immigrants affect the economy in three main areas: The labour market, the public purse and economic growth.

Italy should step up its efforts to help immigrants and their children integrate into society and learn the skills they need to improve their job prospects and earnings, according to a new OECD report.

The OECD presents in this synthesis note the findings of a workshop – held on 28th April in Stockholm – that first worked to identify the bottlenecks and shortcomings in the design and implementation of integration policy in Sweden and then focused on seven themes identified by the OECD and the Swedish authorities as critical issues facing migrants in their integration into the Swedish labour market

The increasing number of people moving within the European Union is driving the rise in migration registered in OECD countries, after several years of decline caused by the crisis. High skilled migration and humanitarian movements to OECD countries are also increasing. Migration policies need to keep pace with these changes, according to a new OECD report.

This edition of the Migration Policy Debates looks at the capacity of the French educational system to integrate the most disadvantaged pupils and namely the foreign-born children or the offspring of foreign-born parents.

This edition of Migration Policy Debates provides an assessment of the possible economic impact of the refugee crisis. It stresses that while there will obviously be short-term costs arising from such large flows, there will also be sizeable economic and public-finance benefits provided refugees are integrated into the labour market.

This document reveals some of the difficulties immigrant students encounter – and some of the contributions they offer – while settling into their new communities and new schools. It also presents some of the policies governments can implement to help immigrant students integrate into their host societies.

When nearly a million Vietnamese “boat people” fled their country in the late 1970s and early 1980s and sought refuge elsewhere, they were typically seen as a burden and often turned away. Eventually, many were allowed to settle in the US. Most arrived speaking little or no English and with few assets or relevant job skills. Yet Vietnamese refugees are now more likely to be employed and have higher incomes than people born in the US.

This edition of Migration Policy Debates presents updated information on international migration in the Americas up to 2014 as well as on labour market outcomes of emigrants originating from the hemisphere. It also summarises available evidence on the emigration of doctors and nurses from the region.

This edition presents an overview of some “alternative pathways” that could help take the pressure off the main traditional pathways for refugees in general and assesses their potential application for Syrians in particular. Overall, these alternatives can help provide safe channels and good integration prospects to refugees who might otherwise be tempted to risk their fate with smugglers and illegal border crossing.

This document provides an overview of the key challenges for Canada’s labour migration system, along with recommendations for future policy making.

Who bears the cost of integrating refugees? New edition of the Migration Policy Debates

Working together: Labour Market Integration of Refugees in Germany and other OECD Countries

While the number of migrants in Finland remains small, the relatively short history of migration in Finland has led to a number of integration challenges.

Emigration is a significant and growing phenomenon for Cambodia. Between 2000 and 2015, the number of Cambodians abroad increased by about 160%, from around half a million to 1.2 million people. The country would benefit from strengthening its whole-of-government approach to making migration an integral part of its overall development strategies.

The Dominican Republic stands to benefit from integrating migration further into sectoral and national development strategies, says new joint OECD Development Centre – UNIBE report

A portrait of family migration

OECD calls on governments to foster the integration of family migrants – a large and often forgotten group of immigrants

In recent decades, Thailand has been an attractive destination for migrant workers due to its relatively high wages and its fast economic growth. A joint report by the OECD Development Centre and the International Labour Organisation, How Immigrants contribute to Thailand’s economy, demonstrates the contribution of migrant workers and makes recommendations regarding the enhancement of this contribution.

Since its independence from the Soviet Union, Kyrgyzstan has rather been known as an emigration country, however around 4% of the population was born outside the current national territory and the country keeps attracting new immigrants.

SICREMI is an initiative of the Organization of American States (OAS) that aims to contribute to the promotion and development of public policies that lead to improved migration management in the Americas through the facilitation of dialogue, cooperation, institutional strengthening and access to information.

Lithuania’s economy has recovered strongly from the global financial crisis, with GDP, wages and employment levels back up to their pre-crisis levels. The country should now focus on tackling the demographic challenge of a fast-declining population and making the job market more inclusive, according to a new OECD report.

Socio-economic disadvantage and language barriers are the biggest obstacles to success at school and in society for students with an immigrant background. More effective and better targeted education and social policies are needed to help migrant children integrate and fulfil their potential, according to a new OECD report.

This report documents the increase in labor migration in Asia and looks at how finance and technology can aid its positive impact on home countries. As diasporas increase, governments have reached out to citizens abroad to provide them with financial instruments. Remittance channels have long been consolidated, but financial technology is changing the ways in which migrants remit—reducing fees and opening opportunities for new actors.

The countries and regions covered in this publication are Austria, the European Union, France, Germany, the Netherlands, North America and Sweden.

The report provides an unprecedented analysis of immigrant workers’ contribution in three areas of the Dominican Republic’s economy: labour markets, economic growth and public finance. It shows that the labour market characteristics of immigrants and native-born workers in the Dominican Republic are very different.

Migration should be better integrated in labour market information and analysis. This could amplify the impact of Ghana’s efforts to enhance the economic contribution of migration, which culminated in 2016 with the adoption of a National Migration Policy aiming to mainstream migration into Ghana’s other development policies.

Finland should offer labour-market-oriented integration support to all migrants, strengthen efforts to identify and address early vulnerabilities, and work more closely with employers according to a new OECD report.

Drawing on data from the OECD Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC), this report reviews the differences in migrants’ characteristics and considers how they relate to the actual skills migrants possess. It examines the relationship between migrants’ skills and their labour and non-labour market outcomes in host countries and sheds new light on how migrants’ skills are developed, used and valued in host country labour markets and societies.

The country profile: pension eligibility ages and other qualifying conditions; the rules for calculating benefit entitlements; the treatment of early and late retirees; personal income tax and social security contributions.

This note is taken from Chapter 2 of Economic Policy Reforms: Going for Growth 2011.

Luxembourg must step up its efforts to detect and prosecute cases of bribery of foreign public officials, particularly now that its legal framework has been strengthened, in compliance with the Anti-Bribery Convention

This report summarises the legal and regulatory framework for transparency and exchange of information for tax purposes in Luxembourg.

Furthering efforts to fight against international tax evasion and bank secrecy, members of the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes have issued 12 new peer review reports.

This note is taken from Chapter 2 of Economic Policy Reforms: Going for Growth 2012.

This paper discusses the results of the 2011-2012 OECD LEED study of measuring green growth in the Benelux countries (Belgium, The Netherlands and Luxembourg). The study paid particular attention to the challenges of measuring the transition to a low-carbon economy in cross-border areas as they have additional levels of complexity when it comes to measuring and monitoring their low-carbon transition.

As a further sign of international efforts to crack down on tax offenders, 12 more countries have signed, or committed to sign, the OECD’s Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters. In addition, another 6 countries have ratified the Convention.

Education at a Glance 2013 - Country notes and key fact tables

The Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes has released peer review reports assessing the tax systems of 13 jurisdictions for information exchange.

These country notes contain indicators which compare the political and institutional frameworks of national governments as well as revenues and expenditures, employment, and compensation. They include a description of government policies on integrity, e-government and open government.

This note presents key findings for Luxembourg from Society at a Glance 2014 - OECD Social indicators. This 2014 publication also provides a special chapter on: the crisis and its aftermath: a “stress test” for societies and for social policies.

Country notes with main key findings of the book and key fact tables: a customised snapshot of a country's educational environment, highlighting the most important issues in the educational landscape.

The tax burden in Luxembourg increased by 0.8 percentage points from 38.5% to 39.3% in 2013. The corresponding figure for the OECD average was an increase of 0.4 percentage points from 33.7% to 34.1%. Luxembourg’s standard VAT rate is 15%, which is below the OECD average. The average VAT/GST standard rate in the OECD was 19.1% on 1 January 2014.

Going for Growth 2015: Key findings for Luxembourg

Luxembourg weathered the global economic crisis well, but must take additional steps to foster the diversification of the economy while ensuring the continuing health of its financial sector, according to the latest OECD Economic Survey of Luxembourg.