Prepared for

UNECE/Eurostat Work Session on Migration Statistics

Chisinau, Republic Of Moldova, September 10-12 2014

Measurement on the socio-economic conditions

Improve availability, quality and comparability of data

Identify Dimensions Identify Indicators

Outline needed data

Review existing data sources

Share experience, Provide

Guidelines

Definition:

Persons born outside the country where they currently reside

Operational definition:

Country of birth

Definition:

Persons born inside the country of residence, but one or both of the person’s parents were born outside the country of residence

Operational definition:

Country of birth

Country of birth of father/mother

Demographic

•Languages

•Mortality

•Fertility

•Health status

•Access to health services

•etc

Education

•Education attainment

•School participation

•Early school drop-out rate

•Credential recognition

•etc

Labour market

•Employment rate

•Unemployment rate

•Participation rate

•Occupation

•Industry

•Education and occupation mismatch

•Job tenure

•etc

Economic well-being

•Household income

•Employment income

•At risk of poverty

•Property ownership

•etc

Social and civic

•Citizenship acquisition

•Voting participation

•Volunteering

•Participation in social activities

•Access to services

•Discrimination, victimisation and feeling of safety and trust

•Cultural diversity

•etc

Settlement into a new country is a process for the foreign born and their descendants involving the overcoming of various social, economic, and cultural challenges. As such, the socioeconomic conditions tend to change as they stay in the receiving country longer.

Longitudinal perspective: time dimension in analysis to monitor change.

Different data sources provide different time perspective. It has implication on research questions, analytic methods and indicators.

Example: Knowledge of host country’s language(s)

Key research questions

- How long it takes to gain the knowledge or proficiency?

- To which extent knowledge improves over time?

- Whether certain characteristics affect the time required to acquire the host country language(s)?

Example: Education attainment

Key research questions

- Have the educational profile of recent arrivals changed over time?

- Do migrants have access to education system and therefore achieve a higher qualification?

- What is the longer term education outcome of migrant groups ? Is there inter-generation mobility in education attainment?

Foreign citizens in Italy aged 6 years and over, by proficiency in host country’s language and age at arrival

Source: Italian National Institute of Statistics, “Condition and social integration of foreign citizens” Survey

– Year 2011-2012.

Proficiency

increased when

migrants arrived at

young age

0.0

10.0

20.0

30.0

40.0

50.0

60.0

70.0

80.0

90.0

100.0

0 to 15 years 16 to 25 years 26 to 35 years 36 years andover

Total

Age at arrival

No difficulties in undertanding

No difficulties in speaking

No difficulties in reading

No difficulties in writing

Mother tongue and knowledge of official languages of immigrants, by period of immigration, 2011

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Immigrants Before 1971 1971 to 1980 1981 to 1990 1991 to 2000 2001 to 2011

Mother tongue is English

Mother tongue is French

Mother tongue is not English norFrench, but with knowledge ofEnglish

Mother tongue is not English norFrench, but with knowledge of french

Mother tongue is not English norFrench, but with knowledge of bothEnglish and French

Mother tongue is not English norFrench and no knowledge of Englishand FrenchPeriod of immigration

Source: Statistics Canada, 2011 National Household Survey.

The proportion of immigrants reporting knowledge of official

languages increased with length of stay in the country

Percentage of immigrants who arrived between 1991 and 2000 that know at

least one official language in Canada, by age at immigration, 2001 and 2011

Sources: Statistics Canada, 2001 Census and 2011 National Household Survey.

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Total 0 to 4years

5 to 12years

13 to 19years

20 to 24years

25 to 34years

35 to 44years

45 to 64years

65 yearsand older

Age at immigration

2001

2011

Those who immigrated

at a young age tended

to show the greatest

language improvement

Percentage of university degree among migrant men and women aged 25

to 54, showing migrant status and period of migration

Sources: Statistics Canada, 1991 and 2001 censuses and 2011 National Household Survey.

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

1991 Census 2001 Census 2011 NHS

Men

Non-immigrants Established immigrants

Recent immigrants

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

1991 Census 2001 Census 2011 NHS

Women Increased proportion of

university education

among recent immigrants

Proportion of post-secondary education attainment

among population aged 25 to 54

Source: Instituto Nacional de Estadística (Spain), 2011 Census

Higher education

attainment among non-

immigrants born to

immigrant parents (i.e.,

the second generation)

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

50%

Men Women

Non-Immigrants born toNon-Immigrant parents

Non-Immigrants born toImmigrant parents

Immigrants

English proficiency improved most during the first two years in the country.

Six months after arrival, 58% of immigrants reported that they were able to speak English well or very well.

After 2 years in the country, the proportion increased to 68% and remained about the same after 4 years in the country

Source: Statistics Canada, Longitudinal Survey of

Immigrants to Canada, 2005

Proportion of immigrants aged 15 years

and over, by level of spoken English at

each wave, Canada

Overseas migrants who arrived in Australia between 2001 and 2006,

Proficiency in spoken English in 2011, as a proportion of all people who

spoke English 'Not well' or 'Not at all' in 2006

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Very well Well Not well Not at all

Pe

rce

nt

Proficiency in Spoken English in 2011

Source: Australian Census Longitudinal Dataset, 2006-2011.

Over half of recent

immigrants transitioned

from speaking English

“not well” or “not at all” to

speaking it “well” or “very

well” over the 5 year

period.

Language information

Knowledge vs. Proficiency vs. Functional Proficiency

Self-reported vs. Tested

Understand, Speak, Read, Write

Number of host country official languages

Education information

Credential recognition

Location (country) where education credential was acquired

Need for longitudinal perspective when developing data

What are the research questions?

Next Steps

Replicate the approaches for indicators under the other dimensions

Task Force members to identify which approaches are “doable” for their country

Final report