Migration and Immigrants Two Years after the Financial Collapse: Where Do We Stand?

Immigrants, particularly men and youth, have been disproportionately hit by the global economic crisis that began in fall 2008 and now confront a reality of dwindling budgets for public services and immigrant integration programs, this report for BBC World Service reveals. The report, which has a particular focus on five North Atlantic countries -- Germany, Ireland, Spain, the United Kingdom and United States – finds that the unemployment gap between immigrant and native workers has widened in many places. It offers analysis of a number of trends, including the fact that some immigrant-destination countries that historically have been countries of emigration, such as Ireland, Greece, and Portugal, may be reverting to earlier trends.

Among the study’s other findings:

• Overall immigration to developed countries has slowed sharply as a result of the economic crisis. Unregulated flows such as illegal immigration and free movement within parts of the European Union have experienced the largest decreases. Immigration to Ireland from new EU Member States fell by 60 percent from 2008 to 2009 while overall EU inflows to Spain fell by two-thirds, for example. Meanwhile, border agencies at the U.S. and EU southern borders report dramatically fewer illegal entries.
• Are immigrant-destination countries now becoming countries of emigration? Some immigrant-destination countries that historically have been countries of emigration, such as Ireland and Greece, may be reverting to earlier trends. Ireland re-emerged as a country of net emigration in 2009 for the first time since 1995 — reporting the highest net outflows of both immigrants and natives in the European Union.
• Immigrant-receiving countries have not resorted to protectionism. While some countries have made some modest adjustments to their employment-based immigration policies, immigrant-receiving countries have not resorted to the protectionism that many initially feared. Enforcement efforts to remove unauthorized migrants are up, however, in many countries. The U.S. government deported 10 percent more unauthorized immigrants in 2009 than the year before. And Italy and France have increased enforcement measures (including controversial deportations of Roma immigrants from France to Eastern Europe).
• Long-term high unemployment predicted for migrants. While the recession may be over in almost all advanced industrial nations, the ongoing jobs crisis in many countries is likely to have a pronounced effect on the long-term economic prospects for immigrant workers and their families. High unemployment among the most vulnerable of these groups could persist for some time, with long-lasting “economic scarring” for more recently arrived immigrants who entered the job market during the downturn.

Download the report here

Press release