Developed countries, such as those in the OECD area, are likely to go on turning to immigrants to provide skills and expertise in areas like high-technology, foresees Brian Keeley in ‘OECD Insights: International Migration’ (www.academicfoundation.com).
“Immigrants like Intel’s Andy Grove, Yahoo’s Jerry Yang and Google’s Sergey Brin have been key to the global success of California’s Silicon Valley, and there will be increasing international competition for such talent in the years to come – not least from emerging economies like India and China.” In the areas of IT (information technology), healthcare, catering and agriculture, immigrants are already making up shortfalls in the developed countries.
‘Overqualified’ for the job
The author notes that in many cases, the immigrants in OECD countries are ostensibly overqualified for the work they’re doing, and not getting maximum returns on their human capital, and nor are the economies of their adopted countries. He, however, draws attention to possible grey areas in the ‘overqualification’ debate.
For instance, “a qualification that is good in one country may not really be equivalent to one from another country. Someone who gets an architecture degree in a developing country may not do the same training as an architecture student in, say, Northern Europe.” It isn’t simply a question of academic standards; the European student may have learnt about designing buildings for cold weather or may have been trained in the latest computer-aided-design software, argues Keeley.
Creative approaches to integration
Countries have adopted varied approaches to integrate migrants into the workforce. While the common ideas are language teaching, social training, and mentoring, there are creative initiatives, such as in Denmark, to help immigrants break the job-market ice.
The book mentions the example of Brøndby IF, a professional soccer club near Copenhagen that has about 1,200 amateur players on its books, about a third of whom are from an immigrant background. “The club also has an extensive network of about 350 sponsoring firms, and in recent years it has worked to help its members find jobs in those companies. The club’s job consultant makes contact with players during training, follows up with interviews to learn more about their skills and interests, and then tries to find a suitable opening in a sponsoring firm.”
Another example from Sweden is a trial scheme, under which immigrants go to work in a company at no expense to their employer. “If the experience doesn’t lead to a job, it can still be added to the immigrant’s CV as local work experience.” A different scheme allows immigrants to go on a three-week apprenticeship within their profession to let them demonstrate that they have the skills to do the job. At the end of the apprenticeship, ‘they receive a certificate from the workplace to support future job applications.’
Migra-dollars
Towards the end of the book is a section on remittances, with an interesting snatch about how ‘migra-dollars’ from diaspora networks can be effective for the entire community back home, rather than just individual families. “Beginning in the 1960s, emigrants from the Mexican state of Zacatecas in the US began forming home-town associations to help each other out if they fell ill and to organise the return of bodies of the deceased. These Clubes Zacatecanos eventually broadened their role, and supported projects back home.”
Their efforts later received official backing, with the state government matching each dollar collectively remitted by the clubs under a scheme called 2x1, Keeley narrates. “Today, 3x1 programmes operate across Mexico at the federal level, with government providing two dollars for every dollar of collective remittances. Much of the money is used to fund water and sewage projects, community development centres and school scholarships…”
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