Migration and skills: The experience of migrant workers from Albania, Egypt, Moldova, and Tunisia
Migration and skills: The experience of migrant workers from Albania, Egypt, Moldova, and Tunisia
Information is gathered from other international organizations that promote skills development and the transition from education and training to work. The Interagency Group on Technical and Vocational Education and Training (IAG-TVET) was established in 2009 to share research findings, coordinate joint research endeavours, and improve collaboration among organizations working at the international and national levels.
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international-organizations
Access for all to good quality education, vocational training and workplace learning is a fundamental principle of social cohesion and economic growth. Some groups of people may require targeted attention if they are to benefit from education, training and employment opportunities.
This is particularly the case for disadvantaged youth, lower skilled workers, people with disabilities, and people in rural communities. The attractiveness of vocational education and training is enhanced when combined with entrepreneurship training and when public policies encourage utilization of higher skills by business.
There is a critical need for a greater overall investment in education and training, particularly in developing countries. Education and training investments should be closely linked to economic and employment growth strategies and programmes. Responsibility should be shared between the government (primary responsibility), enterprises, the social partners, and the individual. To make lifelong learning for all a reality, countries will need to make major reforms of their vocational and education and training systems. School-to-work schemes for young people should integrate education with workplace learning. Training systems need to become more flexible and responsive to rapidly changing skill requirements. Reforms should also focus on how learning can be facilitated, not just on training for specific occupational categories.
According to the ILO global estimates on migrant workers, there were around 164 million migrant workers in 2017.
Migrant workers contribute to growth and development in their countries of destination, while countries of origin greatly benefit from their remittances and the skills acquired during their migration experience. Yet, many migrant workers face challenges in accessing quality training and decent jobs including under-utilization of skills, a lack of employment or training opportunities, lack of information, and exploitation of low-skilled workers.
To address these challenges, countries need to strengthen skills anticipation systems to inform migration policies, increase access to education and training, and establish bilateral or multilateral recognition of qualifications and skills.
Working papers, reports, and other publications from international organizations, academic institutions and bilateral agencies. Research findings to stimulate informed debate on skills, employment and productivity issues.
The subject of migration, and how best to manage it, has been moving up the policy agenda of the European Union (EU) for some time now. Faced with an aging population, possible skills shortages at all skills levels, and the need to compete for highly skilled migrants with countries such as Australia, Canada, and the United States, the EU is moving from seeing migration as a problem or a threat to viewing it as an opportunity. As an EU agency promoting skills and human capital development in transition and developing countries, the European Training Foundation (ETF) wished to explore the impact of migration on skills development, with a special emphasis on Diasporas and returning migrants. For the World Bank, the issue of migration forms an integral part of its approach to social protection, since it believes that labor-market policy must take into account the national as well the international dimensions of skilled labor mobility. Both institutions were keen to look at what changes need to be made to migration policy in order to achieve a triple-win situation, one that can benefit both sending and receiving countries as well as the migrants themselves. This report aims to unravel the complex relationship between migration and skills development. It paints a precise picture of potential and returning migrants from four very different countries, Albania, the Arab Republic of Egypt, Moldova, and Tunisia, that is a conscious choice of two 'traditional' (Egypt, Tunisia) and two 'new' (Albania, Moldova) sending countries, and describes the skills they possess and the impact that the experience of migration has on their skills development.
Countries and territories:
