Carrera, S., Guild, E. & Eisele, K. (2014) “Rethinking the Attractiveness of EU Labour Immigration Policies: Comparative perspectives on the EU, the US, Canada and beyond“, Justice and Home Affairs, CEPS Paperbacks, 13 November.
Is Europe’s immigration policy attractive? One of the priorities driving current EU debates on labour immigration policies is the perceived need to boost Europe’s attractiveness vis-á-vis ‘talented’ and ‘highly skilled’ immigrants. The EU sees itself playing a role in persuading immigrants to choose Europe over other competing destinations, such as the US or Canada.
This book critically examines the determinants and challenges characterising discussions focused on the attractiveness of labour migration policies in the EU as well as other international settings. It calls for re-thinking some of the most commonly held premises and assumptions underlying the narratives of ‘attractiveness’ and ‘global competition for talent’ in migration policy debates. How can an immigration policy, in fact, be made to be ‘attractive’ and what are the incentives at play (if any)?
A multidisciplinary team of leading scholars and experts in migration studies address the main issues and challenges related to the role played by rights and discrimination, qualifications and skills, and matching demand and supply in needs-based migration policies. The experiences in other jurisdictions such as South America, Canada and the United States are also covered: Are these countries indeed so ‘attractive’ and ‘competitive’, and if so what makes them more attractive than the EU?
On the basis of the discussions and findings presented across the various contributions, the book identifies a number of priorities for policy formulation and design in the next generation of EU labour migration policies. In particular, it highlights important initiatives that the new European Commission should focus on in the years to come.
Sergio Carrera is Senior Research Fellow and head of the Justice and Home Affairs research unit at CEPS; Elspeth Guild is Jean Monnet Professor ad personam of European Migration Law at the Radboud University Nijmegen, the Netherlands, and Queen Mary, University of London, UK. She is also an Associate Senior Research Fellow at CEPS and a partner at the London law firm Kingsley Napley. Katharina Eisele is a Researcher in the Justice and Home Affairs section of CEPS.
Relevant posts:
- Barslund, M. & Busse, M. (2014) “Making the Most of EU Labour Mobility“, Social welfare policies, CEPS Task Force Reports, 07 October.
- Turrini, A., Koltay, G., Pierini, F., Goffard, C. & Kiss, A. (2014) “European Economy: a Decade of Labour Market Reforms in the EU – Insights from the LABREF Database“, Economic Papers 522, European Commission – Economic and Financial Affairs, June.
- Beblavý, Μ., Maselli, Ι. & Veselkova, Μ. (2014) “Let’s get to Work! The Future of Labour in Europe“, Economic Policy, CEPS Paperbacks, 10 July.