Integration of immigrants and minority groups
The Metropolitan City: seeking competitive advantage through local actions to integrate immigrants and minority groups
Cities are more and more facing a form of competition where continued economic success depends on the pulling in of considerable numbers of migrants both at the low skill and the high skill ends of the spectrum. Cities are being re-invented, not so much as places for goods trans-shipment and production (though they still do this) but as nodal points on fast-flowing and volatile networks of flows dominated by ‘intangibles’ and mobile people – flows of finance, information, people and ideas.
In particular, metropolitan cities now depend on tapping into flows of people to ensure they have the right forms of human capital to deliver good quality services, both to the local population and on the global marketplace. Cities that are able successfully to play host to the sorts of people who have the best skills in these fields can be expected to gain an international competitive advantage. But to compete, cities need to attract people with various skills levels and not just those at the top of the tree. There are, for example, rapidly expanding demands in the low skill-low pay sectors. In the new international division of labour, low skill manufacturing jobs have been moving east causing the shedding of jobs in manufacturing. At the same time, the high skilled knowledge and producer services economy is exerting its own expanding demand for lower skills. In many cities it is becoming increasingly difficult to source the lower skilled labour required for such services, as the high costs of living make it difficult for residents to take the lower income jobs involved. The ageing European population is exacerbating this situation – the economically active labour force is shrinking at the same time as the demands on services for the older population (particularly health and leisure) increase. New migrant labour at the low skill/low wage end of the spectrum is clearly one potential solution to this issue.
Cities and regions are now the hubs of a vast and complex system of international labour migration where the ability of some to gain a competitive advantage over others is a direct function of their ability to attract and successfully integrate a broad spectrum of incoming migrant groups.
Barriers to labour market integration
The barriers experienced by certain groups and individuals to becoming integrated into the labour market are multi-faceted. The following table lists some of the barriers experienced by minority ethnic groups and immigrants groups to integration in the labour market.
| Type of barrier | Description |
|---|---|
| Migration history |
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| Skills and competencies |
|
| Cultural background, attitudes and motivations |
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| Personal obligations |
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| Employer attitudes, knowledge and discrimination |
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Local employment development: what value can it add?
There are a number of ways in which local employment development can directly support the issue of integration of minority ethnic groups and immigrants into the labour market in metropolitan cities.
Our research has shown that acting at the local level can support:
- sensitivity to the employment potential of, and to the barriers to employment experienced by, local minority ethnic and immigrant populations;
- building up sustainable relations of trust with local employers to support flexible approaches to employment:
- developing a holistic approach which brings a variety of different agencies together to tackle the multi-faceted problems experienced by these groups;
- providing outreach services to hard-to-reach groups who are isolated from mainstream services in the fields of information, training and entrepreneurship;
- sensitivity to needs and opportunities within local territories and acting creatively to exploit service gaps and to stimulate the development of sustainable, good quality local jobs, accessible to all members of the local community.
Conclusions
The key conclusions of the working paper are:
- Minority ethnic groups and immigrants are a major part of the comparative advantage of cities which needs to be harnessed.
- Cities have important employment opportunities to offer these groups in terms of skills gaps and service gaps which need to be filled.
- The local approach has much to offer in relation to:
- identifying skills and barriers to employment in local communities
- generating trust
- acting as a ‘bridge’ between local people, local employers and training providers
- developing holistic local approaches
- exploiting service gaps to produce innovative new employment opportunities
- Approaches which invest in human capital and the recognition of skills and competencies of the target groups are particularly valuable, as are approaches which provide ‘routes’ into employment for people with multiple barriers.
- It is important that employers recognise skills and qualifications from abroad. While this is often addressed through decisions and programmes initiated at the national level, local schemes can give people the right support to convert their qualifications to the local requirements and ensure that peoples experience is given due recognition. Through building up relations of trust with employers, local projects can also be successful in encouraging such employers to be more flexible about the types of skills and qualifications they recognise.
- Basic training in languages and building familiarity with working environment (mentoring, work experience) are essential for newcomer groups.
- Different approaches are needed with different types of target group, but targeting can be controversial and sometimes cause stigmatisation.
- The informal economy is a problem but it is difficult to regularise at the local level. Introducing regularised employment in work areas which traditionally fall within the informal economy is one solution which can be taken forward at the local level (e.g. local schemes to create support and regulate the working arrangements of cleaners and domestic workers).
- Entrepreneurship is a strong opportunity, but there is a need to support people to build strong local businesses from family based un-regularised entrepreneurship. Venture capital is important for this.
- Policy support is imperative for pilot projects at grass roots level but is vulnerable to national ideologies and political change. There is a need for more sustainable funding in this area.
- Local action needs to occur within a national and European framework which tackles discrimination and supports employment rights for minority ethnic and immigrant workers.
