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http://www.itinerainstitute.org/en/issues/_issue/migration-integration/
Migration & Integration
Diversity has become one of the most challenging issues in multi-cultural societies. This diversity, whether cultural, religious, linguistic, economic, ideological or historical, can accelerate and enrich progress in our society. At the same time, diversity without integration and common citizenship leads to polarization and undermines social and economic structures. We cannot shy away from a deliberate immigration and integration policy that recognizes the inevitable nature and realizes the opportunities of immigration.
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Itinera Papers and Presentations

Credit for knowledge
29 September 2008

The last couple of years we have lived with the illusion that wealth is only a matter of numbers by selling homes to an ever higher price. Yet, we knew wealth is not generated by making one bigger bet after the other, but by technological progress.

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Should public authorities subsidise external beauty?
28 July 2008

Figures that have recently been published by the Belgian Health Care Knowledge Centre show that health insurance spending for plastic surgery has more than doubled in only 11 years. This example serves to introduce a debate on the desirability of health expenses in general.

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Languages and Economy
01 July 2008

As 59% and 53% of Flemish people master French and English, only 19% and 17% of the Walloon speak Dutch and English. The economic impact of this is not to be underestimated.

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European Blue Cards: What are the main stakes
18 June 2008

Frédéric Docquier analyses the Belgian and European migration policies in the context of an ageing society that looses some of its qualified workforce to the rest of the world. He concludes that a selective migration policy that respects certain crucial principles is not neccesarily pernicious for the countries of origin. The question should rather be: what's in it for the host countries?

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Demography is destiny
14 May 2008

Marc de Vos offers perspectives on the new demographic predictions for Belgium and warns that structural scarcity on the labour market can engender a real workforce crisis. He pleads for a mobilisation that includes selective immigration but warns that immigration is not a magical solution and that it implies long term consequences.

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External Papers and Presentations

What can be learnt from the Dutch integration story?
17 November 2008

In what social and economic areas is the gap between autochthones and immigrants closing? And in what areas nothing has changed? What factors are determining? This year report 2008 of the Dutch bureau for statistics is a source of inspiration about the actual situation of the social integration processes. And for a country like Belgium which is very close to the Netherlands according to the Migration Policy Index, this report can be an important source of inspiration on what to do, and what not to do.

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Benefits of circular migration
24 October 2008

Circular migration is a continuing, long-term, and fluid pattern of international mobility of people among countries that occupy what is now recognized as a single economic space. According to this MPI Insight, both countries of origin and destination gain from this international mobility because it conforms to the natural preferences of many migrants and makes labour markets more flexible – an important instrument to cushion asymmetric shocks (economic shocks that hit countries differently) in Europe for example. Removing administrative obstacles to mobility and developing flexible long-term residence permits are only two of the many other policy recommendations advanced in this article.

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Off-shoring and immigration of skilled workers fosters competitiveness
06 October 2008

According to this Bruegel policybrief, Europe’s corporations are changing the way they do business, in a context of increasing competition and scarcity of top-talent. They are slicing up the value chain and introducing flatter chains of command in order to cut costs and woo the highly skilled workers. Contrary to popular belief, both off-shoring to the near-abroad and immigration of skilled workers can foster European competitiveness and help keep jobs in Europe. This is also highly relevant for a small open economy like Belgium.

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Temporary agency work as a transition for a more efficient labour market? Reflection.
22 September 2008

Following the lecture of Jan Denys, Randstad, of the 17th of September, Fons Leroy, VDAB, answers.

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Migration policy: Belgium is lagging behind, but progresses
12 September 2008

This OECD report provides a broad update of migration policies and contains notably a “scoreboard” of immigrant employment integration. Belgium appears in the very bottom league regarding the gap between foreign-born and the native-born: It is ranked last but one, just before Poland. The immigrant employment rate in our country appears among the lowest in the OECD area, while foreign-born unemployment rate appears among the highest. In 2006, only one immigrant in two was employed. The outcome improves when the education profile is taken into account (57%), but not enough to change Belgium’s position. Despite these bad performances, one can however note that Belgium has made considerable progress since 2001, especially in the case of immigrant women.

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