High-skilled immigration policy in Europe
Kahanec, Martin ; Zimmermann, Klaus F.
Institute of Labor Economics, Bonn
IZA - Bonn
2010
40 p.
EU policy ; immigration policy ; labour mobility ; skilled worker
Discussion Paper Series
5399
Migration
English
Bibliogr.
"Whether Europe will be able to stand up to its internal and external challenges crucially depends on its ability to manage its internal mobility and inflows of international migrants. Using a unique expert opinion survey, we document that Europe needs skilled migrants, and skill mismatch is to be expected. A review of current immigration policies shows that despite a number of positive recent developments Europe lacks a consistent strategy to address this challenge effectively, paralyzed by the notion of "fortress" Europe, which we argue should be abandoned. Since significant political tensions can be expected between native actors that favor and disfavor further immigration, improving European immigration policies and procedures is a formidable challenge. This task involves the need to improve Europe's image among potential migrants, especially the high-skilled ones. "
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