Brussels, 13/06/2013 (Agence Europe) - According to the most recent report of the Organisation for Economic Development and Cooperation (OECD), published on Thursday, the crisis and austerity measures have led to a marked rise in the number of nationals from southern European countries migrating to other EU countries since 2009. The OECD explains that the rate of migration of nationals from countries most affected by the crisis, particularly those in southern Europe has increased “by 45% from 2009 to 2011”. The OECD also states that “the number of Greeks and Spaniards moving to other EU countries has doubled since 2007, reaching 39,000 and 72,000 respectively. Germany saw a 73% increase of Greek immigrants between 2011 and 2012, close to 50% for Spanish and Portuguese nationals and 35% for Italians”.
The report says that the job market situation has worsened sharply for immigrants, with unemployment rising by almost 5 percentage points between 2008 and 2012, compared with a three point jump among native-born workers. Young and low skilled have been worst hit. The impact was strongest on migrants from Latin America and North Africa. Thus, roughly one out of every two immigrants in Europe has been looking for work for over 12 months, according to the OECD. The organisation estimates, however, that “raising the employment levels of migrants to that of the native-born would generate significant economic returns, especially in countries such as Belgium, France and Sweden with large, established immigrant populations”. To achieve this end, however, the report emphasises that “fighting discrimination is essential”. The report illustrates that “generally, a person with an immigrant-sounding name, for example, has to send at least twice as many applications to get a job interview than one with a non-immigrant name”.
In its most recent report, the OECD calculates the budgetary impact of immigration on member states and explains that the question of whether immigrants are net contributors to public finances or net beneficiaries is at the heart of current debates but it also indicates that this impact remains limited, below 0.5% of GDP, irrespective of whether this impact is positive or negative. (SP/trans.fl)