The conference will be held at the OECD Conference Centre, Paris. 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 Rodolfo Debenedetti, the University of Luxemburg and IRES (Université Catholique de Louvain).
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. In 2005/06, 36% of employed migrants from low/middle-income countries with a university degree were working in intermediate or low-skilled jobs, compared with 21% for native-born workers. A similar phenomenon is also observed among medium-educated migrants. There are several possible reasons behind this, including language difficulties, and uncertainty about the value of qualifications and work experience acquired in the origin country. Yet, also native-born offspring of immigrants often face lower returns to their qualifications, pointing to other, structural obstacles such as lack of knowledge about labour market functioning and lack of networks, as well as discrimination.
This conference aims at shedding some light on the measurement and utilisation of migrants’ skills, the reasons behind the observed lower returns 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. Papers on any of the above mentioned topics and focusing on immigration in OECD countries are welcome (see below for instructions for submitting a paper).
Keynote speaker : Barry Chiswick (Chair, Department of Economics, George Washington University)
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 coauthors for each submission. Please note that each individual may present only one paper during the conference, though they may be listed as a co-author on multiple papers.
The selected papers will be made available online, except if authors refuse explicitly this possibility.
The organizers will not be able to cover the cost of your participation to the conference
Important dates
October 7th, 2012: Deadline for submitting papers
October 26th, 2012: Authors are notified of the selection results
November 26th, 2012: Deadline for registration
December 7th, 2012 (9 am to 6 pm): Conference date
Submissions and questions to be sent to: [email protected]
Scientific Committee
Mariya Aleksynska (CEPII ; International Labour Organization)
Michel Beine (Université du Luxembourg)
Tito Boeri (Università Bocconi)
Xavier Chojnicki (CEPII ; EQUIPPE ; Université Lille 2)
Frederic Docquier (Université Catholique de Louvain),
Jean-Christophe Dumont (OECD)
Hubert Jayet (EQUIPPE ; Université de Lille)
Maëlan Le Goff (CEPII)
Thomas Liebig (OECD)
Lionel Ragot (CEPII ; Université Paris Ouest Nanterre-La Défense)
Théodora Xenogiani (OECD)
