Immigration in OECD Countries: Selecting and Integrating Skilled Migrants

The educational attainment of immigrants in OECD countries has been increasing significantly over the past two decades. This is the result of a combination of higher educational attainment in origin countries and a growing focus on skilled labour migration in destination countries. Yet, labour shortages persist and are expected to grow in many OECD countries for several types of skills. In parallel, there is a large and growing discrepancy between immigrants’ formal qualifications and the type of jobs they perform, although not all groups of migrants are equally affected.

This conference aims at shadding some light on the measurement and utilisation of migrants’ skills, the reasons behind the observed lower return for migrants to observable skills and differences in these returns among migrant groups and skills levels. It also intends to discuss the effectiveness of policies to select and retain skilled migrants, as well as of policies to make better use of the skills of migrants – including through the assessment and recognition of qualifications and work experience obtained abroad.

The conference is jointly organised by the OECD, the French Research Center in International Economics (CEPII) and its Club, the research team Equippe of the University of Lille, the Fondazione Ing. Rodolfo Debenedetti, the University of Luxemburg and IRES (Université Catholique de Louvain).

For further information, please visit:

http://www.cepii.fr/francgraph/reunions/reunion.asp?IDReu=54

Instructions for submitting a paper

All authors are asked to submit both: a) a short abstract (150 words); and b) either a work in progress or a full paper. The author making the submission must provide the full names, affiliations, and email addresses of all co-authors for each submission. Please note that each individual may present only one paper during the conference, though the may be listed as a co-author on multiple papers.
The selected papers will be made available online, except if authors refuse explicity this possibility.
The organizers will not be able to cover the cost of your participation to the conference.

Important dates

September 28th, 2012: deadline for submitting papers
October 26th, 2012: authors are notified of the selection results
November 26th, 2012: deadline for registration
December 7th, 2012 (9am-6pm): conference date

Submissions and questions to be sent to: immigrationworkshop2012@cepii.fr

Scientific committee

Mariya Aleksynska (CEPII; International Labour Organization)
Michel Bein (Université du Luxembourg)
Tito Boeri (Università Bocconi and fRDB)
Xavier Chojnicki (CEPII; EQUIPPE; Université Lille 2)
Frederic Docquier (Université Catholique de Louvain)
Jean-Christophe Dumont (OECD)
Hubert Jayet (EQUIPPE; Université de Lille)
Maelan Le Goff (CEPII)
Thomas Liebig (OECD)
Lionel Ragot (CEPII; Université Paris Ouest Nanterre-La Défense)
Théodora Xenogiani (OECD)