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REGANE I on regularised immigrants’ access to employment
Carmen Munteanu - Communications Coordinator
29 May 2014
The final report on "Feasibility Study on the Labour Market Trajectories of Regularised Immigrants within the European Union (REGANE I)", funded by the European Union and coordinated by Albert Kraler, was published in March 2014 by the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD).
The study was undertaken between October 2012 - December 2013 in seven member States and aimed to highlight the relationship between employment and the legal status of the interviewed persons, namely the impact of regularisation programmes upon the labour market. Over the last twenty years about 3.5 million immigrants were regularised through temporary regularisation programmes and other several hundred thousand third country nationals obtained a legal status through permanent regularisation mechanisms on the EU territory.
The study results indicate several factors which improve immigrants’ access to employment through regularisation of their stay. Regularisation opportunities are obviously influenced by employment, as this is a requirement for several regularisation schemes. The opportunities to find employment appear to be influenced by the immigrants’ qualifications as well as the ability to have their qualifications recognised. Even though many participants were highly educated, some additional training was required for accessing the labour market, and such training was possible only in the case of aliens with a right to stay. According to the report, third country nationals have to make compromises regarding the quality of the work they perform if they want to get employment. Investments in education and training are necessary for a higher professional status. Persons with the resident status are rarely able to invest in their career, as they have to meet first the need to obtain income. In the general evaluation regularisation is seen as beneficial in several areas and is not limited exclusively to employment. The study refers to the positive impacts of regularisation upon the labour market as a result of the possibility to access employment with legal documents, as a result of higher incomes, of access to contracts and protection against abuses etc. However regularisation is by no means a guarantee for legal employment. ”Black market” employment and the uncertainty on the possibility to stay on that state's territory (the lack of the right to stay) increase to a large extent the vulnerability of migrants with irregular status.
The study provides a set of information on employment and associated rights, such as the right to health, security, equal pay and dignity of each worker.
Source: http://www.icmpd.org
The study was undertaken between October 2012 - December 2013 in seven member States and aimed to highlight the relationship between employment and the legal status of the interviewed persons, namely the impact of regularisation programmes upon the labour market. Over the last twenty years about 3.5 million immigrants were regularised through temporary regularisation programmes and other several hundred thousand third country nationals obtained a legal status through permanent regularisation mechanisms on the EU territory.
The study results indicate several factors which improve immigrants’ access to employment through regularisation of their stay. Regularisation opportunities are obviously influenced by employment, as this is a requirement for several regularisation schemes. The opportunities to find employment appear to be influenced by the immigrants’ qualifications as well as the ability to have their qualifications recognised. Even though many participants were highly educated, some additional training was required for accessing the labour market, and such training was possible only in the case of aliens with a right to stay. According to the report, third country nationals have to make compromises regarding the quality of the work they perform if they want to get employment. Investments in education and training are necessary for a higher professional status. Persons with the resident status are rarely able to invest in their career, as they have to meet first the need to obtain income. In the general evaluation regularisation is seen as beneficial in several areas and is not limited exclusively to employment. The study refers to the positive impacts of regularisation upon the labour market as a result of the possibility to access employment with legal documents, as a result of higher incomes, of access to contracts and protection against abuses etc. However regularisation is by no means a guarantee for legal employment. ”Black market” employment and the uncertainty on the possibility to stay on that state's territory (the lack of the right to stay) increase to a large extent the vulnerability of migrants with irregular status.
The study provides a set of information on employment and associated rights, such as the right to health, security, equal pay and dignity of each worker.
Source: http://www.icmpd.org
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