Study on the Social and Labour Market Integration of Ethnic Minorities, IZA Research Report No. 16

This study provides the High Level Group on Social and Labour Market Integration of Ethnic Minorities and the European Commission with an elaborated analysis of the barriers to labour market integration of ethnic minorities, with insights concerning good practice of business integration initiatives and policy measures and with policy recommendations. Ethnic minorities are considered to include all categories of the population of foreign origin, ethnic minorities, national minorities, linguistic minorities, religious minorities, and stateless people. The report reviews the existing challenges and established facts on the status of ethnic minorities across the European Union, details their diverse situation by means of 10 elaborated country case studies (based on background studies carried out by renowned country experts) and investigates the disadvantages caused by unfavourable attitudes of the natives using modern econometric methods. Further innovative instruments developed by IZA and employed in this study are the IZA Expert Opinion Survey among expert stakeholders, the review of an European-wide collection of 22 good practice integration initiatives, and a policy matrix to judge societal development and policy choices. The policy conclusions deal with potential strategies to overcome the barriers that ethnic minorities still face in the European labour markets of 2007 and are directed to private business, non-governmental organizations and the government.

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