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Unemployment rates of the foreign- and the native-born
Immigrant workers are more affected by unemployment in older European immigration countries while in North America, in Australia and to a lesser extent in Southern Europe, the unemployment rate tends to depend less on the place of birth. Some groups, such as young immigrants, women or older immigrants have particular difficulties finding jobs.
Definition
The unemployment rate is calculated as the share of the unemployed to the total labour force (employed and unemployed persons). In accordance with the ILO standards, unemployed persons consist of those persons who report that they are without work during the reference week, that they are available for work and that they have taken active steps to find work during the four preceding weeks.
Comparability
All data for the European countries are issued from the European Union Labour Force Survey (second quarter). The national labour force survey, the Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics and the CPS, Current Population Survey (March supplement) are used respectively for Australia, Canada and the United States. Even if unemployment levels can at times be affected by changes in the survey design (this is the case for France since 2004) and by survey implementation problems (e.g. non-response), the unemployment rates are generally consistent over time.
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Long‑term trends In 2004, immigrants in the majority of European OECD countries were relatively harder hit by unemployment than was the native population. In the Slovak Republic, in Finland, Germany, France and Belgium, the unemployment rate of immigrants is higher than 15%. The rate is more than twice the level observed for the native-born in Finland and Belgium. This is also the case for Sweden, Denmark, Austria and the Netherlands. In Switzerland, the unemployment rate is below 9% but the difference between the foreign- and native-born rates is also significant. In other countries, however, especially the main settlement countries (Australia, Canada, the United States) and recent immigration countries (Italy, Spain, Greece), the unemployment rate does not vary much by birth status. The period since 1995 has seen some sizable declines in the unemployment rates of the foreign-born, both men and women, in a number of countries, among them Australia, Denmark and Sweden, Greece (men only) Ireland, the Netherlands, Spain and the United Kingdom. At the same time, labour market conditions have stagnated in a number of other countries and have had adverse consequences for immigrants in Germany and Portugal. More than 15% of the immigrant women in the labour force are seeking employment in Belgium, Germany, Finland, France, Greece, Spain, and the Slovak Republic. In relative terms, the unemployment rate of immigrant women is at least twice as high as that of natives in Austria, Denmark, Finland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland. The difference in absolute values vis-à-vis the native-born is systematically positive, but does not generally increase with the level of qualifications. |
Source
- OECD (2006), International Migration Outlook: SOPEMI – 2006 Edition, OECD, Paris.
Further information
Analytical publications
- OECD (2006), Local Economic and Employment Development (LEED) – From Immigration to Integration: Local Solutions to a Global Challenge , OECD, Paris.
Online databases
| Texts | |
| • | Indicator web page |
| • | Indicator in PDF |
| Tables (xls) | |
| • | Unemployment rates of foreign- and native-born populations |
| Graphics | |
| • | Foreign- and native-born unemployment rates |
Foreign- and native-born unemployment rates
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