THE GLOBAL economic crisis is likely to cause the first major fall in the number of migrants coming to work in rich countries since the 1980s, according to a new report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
It said this was already happening in Ireland, Spain and the UK, which were among the countries first hit by the downturn.
In its International Migration Outlook, published yesterday, the Paris-based group said the crisis was hitting immigrants harder than native-born workers, with unemployment levels among immigrants almost doubling in some countries since the recession set in.
The rate of unemployment among immigrants in Spain was 27.1 per cent in the first quarter of 2009, it noted, compared to 15.2 per cent for natives.
The OECD found that it was still too early to know how much migration rates were slowing overall, but some countries had already seen a decline in arrivals as workers opted not to move and governments adopted stricter admission policies. It predicted this decline could intensify throughout 2009.
For the first time in many years, the allocation limit for the main US temporary work visa was not reached immediately this year.
Australia witnessed a decline in temporary skilled migration of more than 25 per cent in the first four months of 2009.
While immigrants are feeling the full force of the downturn, the environment for migration policies is getting tougher, with unemployment tests being more strictly applied and programmes to encourage recent arrivals to return to their home countries being introduced.
However, the authors warned that migration was “not a tap that can be turned on and off at will”.
Some labour migration would still be needed, while family and humanitarian migration were less likely to be affected by economic trends.
In tackling the jobs crisis, it advised, governments “need to make sure that immigrants do not fall prey to increasing xenophobia and that discriminatory practices do not worsen an already difficult situation for them”.
Integration programmes needed to be maintained, if not strengthened, while “equality of opportunity is not a principle to be applied only during the good times”.
“In these challenging times, policymakers should address labour market integration as a matter of priority,” said OECD secretary general Angel Gurría.
The Czech Republic, Japan and Spain have put in place policies to encourage return migration among unemployed immigrants, by offering them money to return home. However, the report observed that past experience showed such schemes generally had limited impact.
Looking to the future, the OECD predicted that economic recovery would mean the pressures in labour markets would reassert themselves, and global migration flows were likely to rebound as a result.
“International migration will remain a prominent feature of the global economy. And the difficulties in managing it that were present before the downturn will still remain to be tackled.”