IMMIGRANTS FACE JOB DISCRIMINATION IN EUROPE, SAYS ILO

by Someshwar Singh

Geneva, 9 Mar 2000 -- The millions of migrant workers seeking to find a job in the developed world face "significant and disturbing levels of discrimination in access to employment," according to a new research study by the International Labour Organization.

The study, "Migrant Discrimination in the Labour Market: A Comparative Study of Four European Countries," has been just published by the ILO to help a meeting on the same issue this week. The study looks into the problems of discrimination in employment access faced by migrants in Belgium, Germany, The Netherlands, and Spain.

According to the report, "overall discrimination rates of up to 35% were not uncommon," meaning that researchers found at least one in every three job applications posed by migrant/ethnic minority candidates met with discrimination. The research found that, barring areas where non-nationals are generally not allowed and also excluding those where migrants are normally well represented, at least one-third of all advertised vacancies were effectively closed to applicants from migrant or ethnic minority groups as a result of discriminatory hiring practices.

But the findings on discrimination rates, however, "probably constitute a conservative estimate of the levels of discrimination in the labour market as a whole," and in terms of what is happening in real life situations, says the report.

The discrimination rate of one-in-three may therefore be but an indication of the scale of the problems facing migrant and ethnic minority workers in gaining employment.

The discrimination was strongest at the outset of the hiring process, with large numbers of "test" applicants (usually a young male with a foreign sounding name) being denied the possibility of even presenting credentials to prospective employers.

The second stage of the application process, in which candidates presented their credentials and tried to obtain a job interview, yielded less evidence of discrimination. The third stage, an actual interview, yielded less still.

"However, blatant evidence of discrimination occurred throughout the hiring process and in many cases more than half the minority candidates never got beyond the first stage."

The sectoral distribution of the tests was influenced by the jobs on offer during the period in which the fieldwork was carried out. Access to semi-skilled jobs in the services sector and several of its branches was tested in all four countries.

The industrial sector was not covered in the Netherlands, reflecting the virtually completed process of economic restructuring in that country, whereas vacancies in the construction sector were included in Germany and Spain.

Discrimination, notes the ILO study, is particularly high in service sectors, notably in branches where contacts with clients is an essential element of the services provided.

The ILO study calls this trend "extremely worrying" since services are precisely the area where job growth is strongest.

Within the services sector, the hotel and catering branch showed the highest levels of discrimination in Belgium and Spain, where half of all the vacancies were found to be inaccessible for migrant/ethnic job applicants. In the Netherlands, this proportion was one out of every three vacancies.

As migrant and minority workers tend to be highly concentrated in traditional manufacturing sectors where industrial down-sizing is most rampant, they risk suffering from both reduced job prospects and limited nobility. In most countries, migrants and their descendants suffer from disproportionately higher unemployment rates than nationals.

While such factors as insufficient language skills or training deficiencies might explain higher unemployment levels for the first generation migrants, discrimination in access to employment is likely to be an important factor for subsequent generations.

The study notes that upon their arrival in western Europe, many migrants have been prepared to work for lower wages and under poorer conditions than native workers would normally accept. Most of them of course "aspire to a better future for their children and grandchildren."

Despite high labour force participation rates in all European countries however, migrants and migrant-descended populations are disproportionately represented among the ranks of the long-term unemployed.

When they are employed, they tend to be disproportionately employed and concentrated in the type of poorly paid and insecure jobs that are rejected by the native population.

The ILO study highlights the importance of legislation and training in non-discrimination in the industrialised world to combat this discrimination.

"Discrimination affects the lives of migrant and ethnic minority workers throughout the countries of western Europe. The marginalisation and segregation resulting from this discrimination feed the very stereotypes and prejudices which originally generated it -- to the detriment of not only the migrant and ethnic minority communities, but also to the society as a whole."

According to the ILO, the total number of migrants around the world now surpasses 120 million - up from 75 million in 1965 - and continues to grow.

On the other hand, the global stock of migrant workers, defined as people who are economically active in a country of which they are not nationals but excluding asylum seekers and refugees, is estimated by ILO to be between 36 and 42 million. If dependents are added to this figure, the total population of migrants is put in the range of 80-97 million.

Europe is the region with the highest concentrations of non-nationals in the world, with 26-30 million non-national residents. (SUNS4624)

The above article first appeared in the South-North Development Monitor (SUNS) of which Chakravarthi Raghavan is the Chief Editor.

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