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The inclusion of legally-residing third-country nationals (TCNs) in the labour market is key to ensuring their effective integration in host societies and their positive impact on social cohesion and the EU economy. This process entails the full use of the skills that migrants bring, and supporting them to achieve their potential.
Migrants can also contribute to addressing skills and labour shortages in certain sectors, at all skills levels, as well to balancing the effects of the ageing population and the declining number of working-age citizens.
Still, TCNs have worse labour market outcomes than EU nationals. For example, Eurostat data on migrant integration from 2022 suggest that the average employment rate of TCNs residing in the EU Member States was 61.9% in 2018, compared to 75.4% among EU nationals of the same countries. TCN women are in a particularly disadvantageous position, with the employment gap between foreign-born and native women across the EU standing at 15.4% in 2023, according to Eurostat data on equality.
Supporting migrants so that they learn the language, get their educational and professional skills validated or recognised, and receive adequate orientation and training to access the labour market is essential for their overall integration, as well as for the receiving societies as well.
Skills validation and the recognition of qualifications and academic diplomas are key issues. TCNs are often highly-educated, but Eurostat data points out that in 2022, the over-qualification rate among them stood at an average of 39.4 %, compared to 21.1% for nationals of the same EU countries. The EU institutions, EU countries, and various social and economic stakeholders all share an interest and a responsibility to aid the integration of TCNs and put their skills to good use.
The European Partnership for Integration
The European Partnership for Integration is a framework for cooperation between the European Commission (EC) and social and economic partners such trade unions and employers organisations for fostering the integration of refugees and other migrants in the EU labour market. First signed in 2017, the partnership has since allowed for the implementation of a wide range of actions, including ones sponsored by the EC. Read more about the most recent developments on the partnership on the website of the EC's Directorate-Genral for Migration and Home Affairs (DG HOME). EWSI has a dedicated European Partnership for Integration section whichalso publishes successful labour market integration actions implemented by the partners and their national member organisations.
Other key recent initiatives of the EU
Some of the most recent actions of the EU in promoting TCNs labour market integration include:
- The Skills and Talent Mobility Package, adopted by the EC on 15 November 2023. The package includes a series of new measures designed to make the EU more attractive to talent from outside the EU, and to facilitate mobility within it. Among these measures is theEU Talent Pool, a platform to facilitate the recruitment of jobseekers from non-EU countries in EU-wide shortage occupations. Other measures include Talent Partnerships with non-EU countries, measures for easier, faster recognition of qualifications gained in third countries, as well as measures to make learning mobility more accessible.
- The 2023 European Year of Skills was a EU-wide initiative meant to help people across the EU - including TCNs - acquire the right skills for quality jobs and supports companies in addressing skill shortages. The initiative brought numerous actions such as trainings across the EU countries.
- The Commission Recommendation (EU) 2022/554 of 5 April 2022 on the recognition of qualifications for people fleeing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was also an important step in simplifying the labour integration of temporary protection beneficiaries. The EC's assessment of the document's implementation points out that 'stakeholders expressed their appreciation for the Recommendation. In their feedback, they often raised the question of whether the measures should also be extended to other third-country nationals.'
- The multilingual EU Skills Profile Tool for Third-Country Nationals helps to map the skills, qualifications and work experiences of migrants and to give them personalised advice on further steps, e.g. a referral to recognition of diplomas, skills validation, further training or employment support services.
- The EC is also continually supporting labour integration actions via many different projects funded by the Asylum Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF).
Finally, in May 2024, EWSI published its latest, EU-wide analysis on bridging courses for migrants to complement qualifications obtained in third countries.
Education and training are among the most powerful tools for integration, and their access should be ensured and promoted as early as possible. The acquisition of basic skills is the foundation for further learning and the gateway to employment and social inclusion. Learning the language of the destination country is crucial for third-country nationals (TCNs). In addition, all children, regardless of their family or cultural background or gender, have the right to education to further their development.
Culture can be a means for refugees and other migrants to meet, communicate with and become part of their new communities. By bringing people together, building communities and fighting attitudes of xenophobia and racism, sport has the potential to make an important contribution to the integration of migrants in the EU.
Refugee children may have had a break in their education or not been able to go to school at all, and may therefore require tailored support. Education and training practitioners need the necessary skills to assist learners with migrattion background and should be supported in their work in increasingly diverse and multilingual classrooms. Supporting teachers and school leaders is also important to prevent early school leaving, underachievement and educational segregation.
Early childhood education and care is fundamental for the integration of families and children from third countries. It plays an essential role in learning to live together in heterogeneous societies and in acquiring linguistic competences.
Find also more on how the EU approaches migrant integration through:
Integration is not just about learning the language, finding a house or getting a job. It is also about playing an active role in one’s local, regional and national community, as well as about developing and sustaining personal contacts through social, cultural, sports activities and political engagement. The involvement of third-country nationals (TCNs) in the design and implementation of integration policies is essential to improving their social participation and integration outcomes. See also more about social inclusion in rural areas.
Access to adequate and affordable housing is a basic condition for third-country nationals (TCNs) to start their lives in new societies, but it presents a major challenge in the context of the recent arrivals of people seeking international protection. This challenge is present both in the initial reception phase and when looking for long-term housing solutions that also need to facilitate adequate chances of employment. While responsibility over housing policies is a national competence, the European Commission (EC) supports EU countries in facing the immediate accommodation challenges related to increased refugee inflows and by helping to fund adequate and affordable social housing. In April 2024, EWSI published a EU-wide analysis on the challenges and good practices in securing medium- and long-term housing.
Evidence also shows that ill health and lack of access to health services can be a fundamental and ongoing obstacle to integration, with a negative impact on virtually all areas of life and re-shaping the ability to enter employment, education, language learning and interacting with public institutions.
Supporting evidence-based policies requires close monitoring of the integration outcomes of immigrants over time and across countries, as well as specific topical analysis of integration policies developments. The EU supports this through the publication of EU indicators and data, analyses by the European Commission (EC)'s services, including the Joint Research Centre (JRC), associated agencies such as the Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) and Eurofound, and research and innovation actions co-funded under the Horizon Europe programme.
In addition, EWSI publishes analyses of situation and policy developments in specific areas, including:
- Bridging courses for migrants to complement qualifications acquired in third countries: approaches and practices in EU Member States
- Migrants’ access to medium- and long-term housing in the EU: barriers, governance and good practices
- Digitalising migrant integration services during the COVID-19 pandemic: adaptation, funding and accessibility
- Mapping key migrant-led organisations across the EU
- What can we expect from the new European Parliament on integration?
- The integration of migrant women
- Migrant health across Europe
- Comparative analysis of voluntary and citizens’ initiatives before and after 2015
- Immigrant housing in Europe
Sources of data and research at EU level
- Eurostat migrant integration statistics
- Eurostat's interactive migrant integration and inclusion dashboard
- The OECD-EU Settling In Report: Indicators of immigrant integration 2023
- Knowledge Centre on Migration and Demography (KCMD)
- European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA)
- The EU's Joint Research Centre
- European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound)
Research and other projects on integration
Numerous publications related to the integration of TCNs are made possible thanks to EU funding, including through the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF). The EU also funds many research-specific projects on integration, including through the Horizon Europe (formerly Horizon 2020), such as the GEMM Project which assessed labour market inequalities of migrants and minorities in Europe, and the Skills and Integration of Migrants, Refugees and Asylum Applicants in European Labour Markets (SIRIUS) Project.