A descriptive analysis of immigration to and emigration from the EU

Abstract

JT03398565Complete document available on OLIS in its original format This document and any map included herein are without prejudice to the status of or sovereignty over any territory, to the delimitation of international frontiers and boundaries and to the name of any territory, city or area. Working Papers describe preliminary results or research in progress by the author(s) and are published to stimulate discussion on a broad range of issues on which the OECD works. Comments on Working Papers are welcomed, and may be sent to the Directorate for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs OECD, 2 rue André-Pascal, 75775 Paris Cedex 16, France.This series is designed to make available to a wider readership selected labour market, social policy and migration studies prepared for use within the OECD. Authorship is usually collective, but principal writers are named. The papers are generally available only in their original language -English or Frenchwith a summary in the other.This document and any map included herein are without prejudice to the status of or sovereignty over any territory, to the delimitation of international frontiers and boundaries and to the name of any territory, city or area.The statistical data for Israel are supplied by and under the responsibility of the relevant Israeli authorities. The use of such data by the OECD is without prejudice to the status of the Golan Heights, East Jerusalem and Israeli settlements in the West Bank under the terms of international law. This document has been produced with the financial assistance of the European Union. The views expressed herein can in no way be taken to reflect the official opinion of the European Union. ApplicationsGrant: HOME/2013/EIFX/CA/002 / 30-CE-0615920/00-38 (DI130895)A previous version of this paper was presented and discussed at the OECD Working Party on Migration in June 2015.The paper examines immigration to, and emigration from, the European Union, and compares them with migrant inflows and outflows to other OECD destinations. It investigates how the migrants are distributed in terms of gender, age, education and labour force status, depending on their country of origin as well as of destination. Drawing upon the Database on Immigrants in the OECD countries (DIOC), changes in migration rates and stock are analysed over time, focusing on whether the EU is facing a net gain or loss of skills. Immigration to versus emigration from the European Union The EU is a net receiver of migrants, although it receives fewer migrants than the United States, and, relative to population, fewer than Canada and Australia. This is even truer for high educated migrants. Migration to EU countries is concentrated in EU15 countries, and in a few of these countries. Migration is higher than mobility in only a few EU15 countries, although mobility of the high educated is lower than migration of the high educated in a different set of countries. The United Kingdom attracts a large share of the EU27's educated migrants. The EU27 net migration of high educa...