OECD to focus on migration integration as it hosts ministerial conference in Paris

The OECD will hold its annual Migration and Integration Conference in Paris today, where ministers from all 36 member states and select non-member countries will gather to discuss challenges, opportunities and best practices to migration and integration policy.

While today’s topics include managing economic and temporary labour migration and improving migration enforcement and compliance, the primary aim will be refocusing policies away from receiving new migrants towards integrating them into the resident population.

Migration inflows into OECD countries rose 2% in 2018, primarily due to a significant increase in temporary labour migration. As the issue continues to be a contentious one in many member states–most notably in the US, UK and Germany–the body is looking at ways to ease the transition for migrants and better equip countries to accommodate the influx.

No specific policies or agreements will be signed today, meaning the outcome of the conference will likely only be symbolic in nature. Instead, expect wide-ranging policy setting done independently by member states on ways to integrate new migrants into their resident populations. These policies could include instituting language skill training and vocational qualification testing to establishing courses on civic values and social norms.

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