Patterns of immigrants’ integration in European labour markets

This report looks at employment rates of immigrants and systematically compares them with employment rates of natives. The first finding is that employment gaps vary substantially across Member States, and that for some these gaps are persistent in the period considered (2008-2015). In addition, there is little evidence of overall convergence between Member States in the reduction of these gaps over this period. Having looked at the trends in employment rates since 2008, this report then turns to the likely reasons for the gaps. By drawing on the academic and policy literature, it singles out some of the most likely determinants of these gaps and unpacks them according to their relationships with length of residency, country of origin, education, and skills. Finally, the last section provides a brief overview of the evolution of these gaps in the context of Member States’ active labour market policies. The last section outlines the main findings.JRC.E.6-Demography, Migration and Governanc

Quitting the EU wouldn’t give Britain more control over refugee and migrant flows

Those campaigning for a Brexit frequently argue that Britain would have more control over its borders if it left the EU, protecting it from the large numbers of people hoping to settle in Europe. Marco Scipioni and Paula Hoffmeyer-Zlotnik explain the opt-outs Britain has already secured from EU migration and border policies and conclude that there would be no clear benefit from leaving the EU

Delegation to the European Commission in EU migration policy : expertise, credibility, and efficiency

In 1999, with the entry into force of the Amsterdam Treaty, European Union (EU) migration went from being an area of intergovernmental cooperation to one governed by ever closer version of the Community Method. This shift resulted in a significant production of secondary legislation being agreed at the EU level, regarding all areas upon which the EU had some degrees of competence, namely asylum and refugee, irregular migration, legal migration, administrative cooperation, and border and visa policy. The academic literature is divided in how to interpret policy developments in this area. Some academic contributions have emphasised the divergence from traditional EU policy methods, others have analysed migration policy in the perspective of traditional questions about EU integration, and the majority had some normative assessments of the policies being formulated. This thesis tackles EU migration policy from the point of view of delegation. It proposes to assess the extent of EU integration in this area by measuring the amount of powers the Council of the European Union has granted to the European Commission. The dissertation finds that delegation has occurred in this policy area, and to an extent that is comparable to other, older policy areas, but is uneven across migration categories. Past delegation studies highlighted a number of possible determinants of delegation, such as reducing uncertainty, strengthening the credibility of commitments, achieving efficiency, as well as institutional contexts. This dissertation finds evidence for the credibility and efficiency rationales, as well as conflict between the Council and the Commission. This study is relevant to current debates about how much power EU institutions are and should be granted, whether these institutions are biased towards the nature of the policies, and current trends in EU integration

The Brief Rally Around the Flag Effect of COVID-19 in Europe

As the COVID-19 pandemic erupted in late Winter 2020, support for national governments rose in several European countries. While many analyses of such surge have so far been limited to immediate aftermath of the pandemic breakout, we study if the political unifying effect of the pandemic survived over the medium term. Using data covering most members of the European Union from April to October 2020, we document not only that support for governments faded in many countries, but also that the decline has been unevenly distributed among the population, being more pronounced among women, the self-employed, and people still in education. We find indication that the decline in support signals a shift in concerns among Europeans from the health emergency to the economic consequences of the pandemic.JRC.E.6 - Demography, Migration and Governanc

A rural-urban divide in Europe? An analysis of political attitudes and behaviour

This Technical report offers insights on how the spatial dimension of attitudes and political behaviour across Europe relates to the underlying socio-demographic and economic features. In investigating the existence and nature of a rural-urban divide, it aims to support the Commission’s activities towards a Communication on a Long-Term Vision for Rural Areas. This work builds upon the JRC Science for Policy report Immigration and trust in the EU. A territorial analysis of voting behaviour and attitudes (Scipioni, Tintori et al. 2019). It examines if and how a rural-urban divide may correlate and impact on Europeans' opinions and political choices, with specific reference to a series of issues considered to be particularly divisive in European public discourses in recent times. The study splits the analysis in two parts: one related to data on attitudes, the other on political behaviour. In the part based on survey data, it first looks at the 2018 Flash Eurobarometer on Regions and then, to gain a time perspective, it considers the Standard Eurobarometer series from 2003 to 2019. This section focuses on whether and how attitudes have shifted in rural versus urban areas towards the EU and national governments, as well as over immigration. The part on the political behaviour looks at the European Parliament elections of 2014 and 2019. The section first describes how the political offer of European parties has evolved between the two elections, in relation to the EU and immigration policies according to the Chapel Hill Expert Survey (CHES). Then, it analyses how European voters, divided according to their residence in urban, rural or intermediate territories, cast their votes in both elections for parties coded according to their positions towards the EU and immigration. Overall, the empirical analysis detects some signs of a rural-urban divide in the political attitudes and behaviour of Europeans, but unevenly across various Member States and, importantly, their occurrence is issue-dependent. In addition, the observed geographic differences are less territorial in nature than a second-order manifestation of socio-demographic structural characteristics. The study thus contributes to the framework of the JRC work to provide scientific analyses to identify and understand socio-demographic drivers and implications of territorial disparities across the EU, with a view to support knowledge-based policy design and inform tailored measures.JRC.E.6 - Demography, Migration and Governanc

Design, Construction and Testing of a 3-Component Force Balance for Educational Wind Tunnels in Undergraduate Aerodynamics

This article is focused on providing detailed instructions on how to build and use a force balance for educational wind tunnels. The article’s objective is to encourage undergraduate students in underfunded programs to engage in the field of aerodynamics. The discussed force balance represents an affordable device that only requires basic components like Arduino board, a servo motor, and acrylic and aluminum as construction materials. A simple data collection example is included at the end of the article showing that this simple force balance can collect meaningful data about lift, drag, and moment coefficient of a tested airfoil

Meeting labour demand in agriculture in times of COVID 19 pandemic

Member States affected by the COVID-19 pandemic have often resorted to shelter in place orders to stop the virus from spreading widely. These orders have affected many economic activities, but are designed to prevent a shutdown of those essential activities that are meant to keep the population safe and fed. Agriculture is one of those sectors that needs to be kept functional, but mobility restrictions have kept seasonal temporary workers, which this sector has grown reliant on, from reaching their workplace curbing the productivity of this essential sector. This report analyses the potential for the agriculture sector to replace the seasonal workers who are prevented by shelter in place orders from reaching their usual place of work with EU native born workforce. Looking at labour market flows into agriculture in the past decade, this report finds that the probabilities of flows in agriculture are low. Movers into agriculture are mostly migrant men older than 19 living in a rural area and with low qualification. After analysing recent labour market trends, the report concludes that native workers can only partially fill potential vacancies in the sector.JRC.E.6 - Demography, Migration and Governanc

The Labour Market Consequences of COVID-19 for Migrant Workers

This report describes the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on the European labour market for three groups in the resident population: natives, EU born, and non-EU born. Combining macroeconomic data on the main labour market indicators - activity rate, employment rate, unemployment rate - with the latest waves of the European Labour Force Survey, the study describes the responses of the European labour markets to the shock and its diverse effects across socio-demographic segments of the population. Focusing on the differential effect, the analysis finds that after a severe contraction for in 2020, especially for non-EU born workers, the macro indicators have returned close to their pre-pandemic trends. However, when considering specific socio-demographic groups in 2020, a sizeable gap becomes evident in the probability of job termination by origin. EU-born and non-EU born workers display probabilities between 25% and 125% higher than natives. Among the already underprivileged group of non-EU born workers, the main losers are the young with a short labour market history in the Union.JRC.E.6 - Demography, Migration and Governanc

Delegation to the European Commission in EU migration policy : expertise, credibility, and efficiency

In 1999, with the entry into force of the Amsterdam Treaty, European Union (EU) migration went from being an area of intergovernmental cooperation to one governed by ever closer version of the Community Method. This shift resulted in a significant production of secondary legislation being agreed at the EU level, regarding all areas upon which the EU had some degrees of competence, namely asylum and refugee, irregular migration, legal migration, administrative cooperation, and border and visa policy. The academic literature is divided in how to interpret policy developments in this area. Some academic contributions have emphasised the divergence from traditional EU policy methods, others have analysed migration policy in the perspective of traditional questions about EU integration, and the majority had some normative assessments of the policies being formulated. This thesis tackles EU migration policy from the point of view of delegation. It proposes to assess the extent of EU integration in this area by measuring the amount of powers the Council of the European Union has granted to the European Commission. The dissertation finds that delegation has occurred in this policy area, and to an extent that is comparable to other, older policy areas, but is uneven across migration categories. Past delegation studies highlighted a number of possible determinants of delegation, such as reducing uncertainty, strengthening the credibility of commitments, achieving efficiency, as well as institutional contexts. This dissertation finds evidence for the credibility and efficiency rationales, as well as conflict between the Council and the Commission. This study is relevant to current debates about how much power EU institutions are and should be granted, whether these institutions are biased towards the nature of the policies, and current trends in EU integration