Another interesting conference on labour migration was organised by the EMN National Contact Point (NCP) in Germany. It was entitled Migration of skilled labour from Asia to Germany and Europe and held on June 24, 2013 in Nuremberg.
The aim of the conference was to point out the importance of migration from Asian countries as a partial solution to the demographic challenge and the lack of skilled labour force. Contributions focused on the analysis of the current policies in Germany as well as those of other countries trying to attract highly qualified third-country nationals. Furthermore, they offered a point of view of the Asian countries of origin struggling in the competition for the highly skilled labour.
Migrants from India and China represent the biggest portion of all the migrants coming to OECD countries. Migrants coming from Asian countries are mostly highly qualified; they find a job in their destination country and set up a business creating more vacancies. In comparison with their migration to the USA or Canada, Europe seems to be less attractive and due to this fact the EU member states should mainly focus on attracting foreign students from Asian countries and motivate them to remain in the country after accomplishing their studies.
Besides, speakers emphasized several obstacles discouraging migrants from Asian countries. The “welcoming culture“ in their destination countries is not very hospitable and migrants struggle with the recognition of their education and qualifications as well as with learning the local language. Therefore, destination countries should also focus on integration policies and at the same time influence the public opinion.
Conference programme and presentations are available on German EMN NCP website.