Integrated Modelling of European Migration: Background, specification and results

The aims of this paper are to present the background and specification of the Integrated Modelling of European Migration (IMEM) model. Currently, international migration data are collected by individual countries with separate collection systems and designs. This creates problems when attempting to understand or predict population movements between countries as the reported data are inconsistent in terms of their availability, definitions and quality. Rather than wait for countries to harmonise their migration data collection and reporting systems, we propose a model to overcome the limitations of the various data sources. In particular, we propose a Bayesian model for harmonising and correcting the inadequacies in the available data and for estimating the completely missing flows. The focus is on estimating recent international migration flows amongst countries in the European Union (EU) and European Free Trade Association (EFTA) from 2002 to 2008, using data collected by Eurostat and other national and international institutions. We also include additional information provided by experts on the effects of undercount, measurement and accuracy. The methodology is integrated and capable of providing a synthetic data base with measures of uncertainty for international migration flows and other model parameters.

A Belgian story of CBPR among people with a migration background

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How should we organize schooling to further children with migration background?

Educational integration of children with migration background is an important issue in the social sciences. Few studies exist that quantify the disadvantage of immigrant children in education and there has not been any attempt to identify institutional conditions of the education system that contribute to educational integration. Using data from five international student assessments, this study tries to fill that gap. First, Blinder-Oaxaca decompositions are used to allow for a comparison of (dis)integration of students with migration background across countries and time. In a second step, (dis)integration is related to institutional characteristics of the schooling system. The study shows that early education, time in school and central exams furthers integration, while social segregation of students among schools is detrimental to educational integration.Institution; Integration; Immigrant; Pisa; Timss; Education

Die Nutzung von Tagesschulangeboten an deutschschweizer Tagesschulen

There is an expectation that all-day schools – schools that provide regular compulsory school instruction and in addition extended education offerings for voluntary participation – will reduce existing education inequality. This study focuses on whether utilization of extended education offerings varies in dependency on family background (migration background and socioeconomic status) or whether all-day schools are utilized equally by all students. In the framework of the research project EduCare-TaSe – All-Day Schools and School Success? this study examined utilization of extended education offerings in 1,099 students in Grade 1 at 53 all-day schools in the German-speaking part of Switzerland. The main finding is that the odds of utilizing extended education offerings are higher for students with a migration background and, further, that the odds of utilizing extended education offerings increase with higher socioeconomic status. Among children who utilize extended education offerings, intensity of utilization was higher for students with a migration background and for students with low socioeconomic status. But there are no indications that these two (risk) factors mutually influence each other with respect to intensity of utilization. For children at risk in the Swiss education system that have both migration background and low socioeconomic status only an additive effect can be detected. (DIPF/Orig.)Eine Erwartung an Tagesschulen – eine Schule, die neben dem obligatorischen Unterricht auch freiwillige Angebote führt – ist die Verringerung von bestehenden Bildungsungleichheiten. In der vorliegenden Studie wird die Frage fokussiert, ob das Tagesschulangebot in Abhängigkeit vom familiären Hintergrund (Migrationshintergrund und sozioökonomischer Status) unterschiedlich genutzt wird oder ob es der Tagesschule gelingt, alle Schülerinnen und Schüler gleich gut zu erreichen. Im Rahmen der Studie EduCare-TaSe – Tagesschule und Schulerfolg? wurden in der Deutschschweiz 1099 Erstklässlerinnen und Erstklässler aus 53 Tagesschulen hinsichtlich deren Nutzung des Tagesschulangebots untersucht. Zentraler Befund ist, dass Nutzende des Tagesschulangebots mit Migrationshintergrund einerseits und Nutzende mit einem niedrigen sozioökonomischen Status andererseits das Tagesschulangebot intensiver nutzen als Schülerinnen und Schüler ohne Migrationshintergrund bzw. mit hohem sozioökonomischem Status. Es gibt jedoch keine Hinweise darauf, dass sich diese beiden (Risiko-) Faktoren bezüglich der Nutzungsintensität gegenseitig beeinflussen. Bei den Risikokindern des Schweizer Bildungssystems, die sowohl einen Migrationshintergrund als auch einen niedrigen sozioökonomischen Status aufweisen, lässt sich somit lediglich ein additiver Effekt hinsichtlich deren Nutzung von Tagesschulangeboten feststellen. (DIPF/Orig.

Migration and Statistics

The field of empirical migration and integration research is characterised by a wide range of research questions, theoretical approaches and data sets. Research based on official statistics has to deal with different data sets on migration and foreign population resulting in different numbers. Developments in official statistics concentrate on the improvement of data quality. The census 2010/2011 or the projected central population register are important issues, e.g. in respect of sampling and weighting of migrants in surveys. The concept of migration background in the microcensus is a mayor enhancement in population statistics and has become widely accepted. It is recommended to implement questions on migration background in the census 2010/2011 too. The most important accessible data sets in the field of empirical integration research are the microcensus and the German Socio-Economic Panel; there is still untapped potential for analysis in this area. The supplementation of large surveys with a migrant sample is an appreciated trend. Most important challenges for empirical migration and integration research are the development of sampling methods for migrant population (including onomastics and topomastics), studies on new and small migrant groups, research projects in the country of origin, longitudinal migrant surveys and the development of measurement instruments.Population, Migration, Integration, Migration Background

Peer Effects, Social Multipliers and Migrants at School: An International Comparison

This article analyses the school performance of migrants dependent on peer groups in different international schooling environments. Using data from the international OECD PISA test, we consider social interaction within and between groups of natives and migrants. Results based on social multipliers (Glaeser et al. 2000, 2003) suggest that both native-tonative and migrant-to-migrant peer effects are higher in ability-differencing school systems than in comprehensive schools. Thus, non-comprehensive school systems seem to magnify the already existing educational inequality between students with a low parental socioeconomic migration background and children from more privileged families. Students with a migration background and a disadvantageous parental status would benefit from higher diversity within schools.Peer effects, migration, education, social multipliers, school systems, parental socioeconomic background

Migration Background and Educational Tracking: Is there a Double Disadvantage for Second-Generation Immigrants?

Research on immigrants’ educational disadvantages largely focuses on differences in student achievement tests. Exploiting data from the German PIRLS extension, we find that second-generation immigrants face additional disadvantages with respect to grades and teacher recommendations for secondary school tracks that cannot be explained by differences in student achievement tests and general intelligence. Second-generation immigrations are disproportionately affected by prevailing social inequalities at the transition to secondary school tracks due to their generally less favorable socio-economic background. We additionally provide new evidence suggesting that these inequalities might be related to the failing economic assimilation of immigrants.immigration, educational inequalities, educational tracking, Germany

The Party Identification of Germany's Immigrant Population: Parties Should Not Fear Eased Naturalization Requirements

Individuals with a migration background represent a steadily increasing percentage of Germany's population. Although the majority of individuals with migration background lack German citizenship and are therefore unable to vote, the number of naturalized immigrants continues to rise. Accordingly, political parties have been showing greater interest in this group of potential voters. Data from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP) show that individuals with migration background develop diverse orientations to Germany's political parties in relation to their country of origin. The effect exercised by the country of origin is still present after many years of residence in Germany and among the second-generation. A large majority of individuals from the so-called "recruitment countries"-i.e. countries from which Germany acquired workers for its booming economy in the 1950s and 60s; namely, Turkey, Yugoslavia, Spain, Italy, Greece, and Portugal-identify politically with the SPD (Germany's mainstream labor party). By contrast, foreigners of German descent who have immigrated from Eastern Europe and Russia (so-called "Aussiedler" or "Spätaussiedler") tend to support the CDU/CSU (Germany's traditional conservative party alliance). Germany's smaller political parties find relatively little support among immigrants and their offspring. While extremely diverse party identifications are witnessed among migrants depending on their country of origin, these differences can only be minimally attributed to social circumstances or basic ideological outlook. Model calculations show that eased naturalization laws would not provide an appreciable advantage to any single political party.Migrants, Political behavior, SOEP

Who Can Become German?: Xenophobia and Attitudes Towards Naturalization

Germans are opening up to the topic of immigration: According to the representative data of this report, less and less Germans without a migration background feel threatened by immigration. Also, their attitude towards naturalization has changed. The question "What is the decisive factor for granting German nationality?" is now answered differently than in the 1990s. A significant part of the population without migration background considers ethnic German descent as less important. More and more Germans, however, believe that individual behavior should be the decisive factor for naturalization. In contrast, this doesn't necessarily imply a decline of xenophobia: Persons placing high importance on behavior and cultural adaptation have equally frequent xenophobic tendencies as persons considering ethnicity to be more important. Still, the number of Germans feeling strong hostility towards strangers went down at large.immigration, xenophobia, naturalization