This publication constitutes the thirty-eighth report of the OECD’s Continuous Reporting System on Migration. The report is divided into four chapters plus a Statistical annex. It is a special edition prepared for the OECD High-Level Policy Forum on Migration, held in Paris, December 2014. This forum aimed at discussing and analysing challenges in managing migration and fostering integration of immigrants and their children in the context of current and future skills needs of OECD and key partner countries. The overarching theme was on Mobilising migrants’ skills for economic success.

Migration has become a constant factor in the economic and social landscape. Most OECD countries are net immigration countries, and the share of immigrants has been rising in almost all of them. There are now more than 115 million immigrants in OECD countries, about 10% of the population. A further 5% of the native-born population has at least one immigrant parent. Migration flows are close to four million annually.

Permanent migration flows to the OECD have begun to rebound, according to preliminary data for 2013. Compared with 2012, they grew slightly by 1.1% to reach around 4 million new permanent immigrants. This modest increase is the consequence of conflicting evolutions in several major immigration countries. Migration to Germany recorded a double-digit increase, its fourth consecutive annual rise. By contrast, several major immigration countries saw declines, notably the United States, Italy, Portugal and Spain. Net migration is still well below pre-crisis levels, but it remains positive in most OECD countries. Notable exceptions are Mexico, Iceland, and Ireland.

This chapter provides an overview of recent developments in international migration movements in OECD countries. It begins with a description, based on preliminary data and estimates, of permanent migration flows in 2013, before going on to a more detailed analysis of trends from the start of the financial crisis to 2012. This is followed by an analysis of the changes in the composition of these flows by main category of migration in which particular attention is paid to labour migration – including employment-related free movement. Permanent migration for family or humanitarian motives is then analysed. Temporary migration follows with brief highlights on seasonal and intra-company transfers as well as tracing the continuing growth of asylum seekers especially in the wake of the Syrian conflict since 2011, before turning on to the international mobility of students, a policy focus of many OECD countries. The chapter concludes with a look at the key countries of origin from which migrants leave for OECD countries and the changing trends in net migration as international migration movements have responded to the crisis and its aftermath.

Immigrants now account for more than 115 million people in the OECD, which represents almost 10% of the total population. Their share has increased in virtually all OECD countries over the past decade, and children of immigrants are also entering the labour market in growing numbers. Against this backdrop, the integration of immigrants and their offspring has become a prime policy objective for OECD countries, and a vast array of different integration policies have been adopted over the past fifteen years. Among the various challenges for integration, perhaps the most important one is releasing the full skills potential of immigrants and their offspring. Skills of immigrants that are not used represent a wasted resource at a time when economies are increasingly less able to afford such waste, and may also impact negatively on social cohesion.The chapter takes stock of the broad issues involved in the labour market integration of immigrants and their offspring from a human capital perspective, as well as of the policies at hand to free their full skills potential through the identification and utilisation, the activation, and the development of their skills. It builds on the extensive work of the OECD on integration issues, together with new evidence. The chapter first identifies the main issues involved, followed by a discussion of the instruments and policies in OECD countries along the three pillars identified by the OECD Skills Strategy – namely using, developing and activating skills.

This chapter provides a systematic and comparative overview of labour migration management, identifying key elements which can help policy makers match concrete measures to overarching objectives. It discusses how the landscape for labour migration policy is changing, due to both structural factors and the breakdown of traditional categories, posing new challenges for policy makers. Labour migration policy can be used to achieve different and sometimes competing goals, and the chapter discusses inherent trade-offs in balancing these policy objectives. Achieving labour migration policy objectives involves the use of tools, and the chapter discusses many instruments comprising the policy toolbox, from well-known and broad tools such as numerical limits to detailed selection and ranking criteria. The role and applicability of shortage occupation lists is discussed. Tools are matched to objectives, and the conditions under which the tool may be appropriate, as well as potential shortcomings, are identified. The chapter underlines the importance of flexibility and discusses how to apply these tools to maintain a dynamic management system to react to changes. The infrastructure needs of a management system are identified, and possible solutions in the case of limited resources are listed.

Most of the data published in this annex have been provided by national correspondents of the continuous reporting system on migration appointed by the OECD Secretariat with the approval of the authorities of member countries. Consequently, these data are not necessarily based on common definitions. Countries under review in this annex are OECD countries for which data are available, as well as the Russian Federation. The continuous reporting system on migration has no authority to impose changes in data collection procedures. It is an observatory which, by its very nature, has to use existing statistics. However, it does play an active role in suggesting what it considers to be essential improvements in data collection and makes every effort to present consistent and well-documented statistics.