New report: Integration of migrants in the Czech Republic
Migration Policy Institute (MPI) published the report "Building an Integration System: Policies to Support Immigrants' Progression in the Czech Labor Market" by Dušan Drbohlav and Onřej Valenta. The report focuses on integration measures in the Czech Republic with an emphasis on the economic integration of migrants.
Accession to the European Union (EU) in 2004, increased foreign investment, and rapid economic growth throughout the mid-2000s made the Czech Republic a significant new migrant destination. In response to this growth, the Czech Republic has taken steps over the last decade to develop a coherent set of immigrant integration measures. However, funding constraints have limited the scope of these programs and the number of beneficiaries they can serve, and reliance on both EU funding and small nonprofit organizations to deliver services has contributed to a fragmented landscape of support. The Czech education and training system has been widely criticized for failing to meet employers’ needs, slowing down workers’ productivity, and limiting opportunities for career progression.
Unlike immigrants in many other destination countries, recent cohorts have entered the Czech labor market with relative ease, partially due to the significant proportion of labor migrants in the immigrant flow. However, many of these workers arrived to fill demand in low-skilled occupations, with only limited evidence of upward mobility into more skilled positions over time.
This report presents an overview of Czech integration policies, with a special focus on economic integration. It focuses on policies designed to support migrants’ incorporation in the Czech labor market, and assesses the extent to which these policies facilitate migrants’ upward mobility into more skilled work. The report examines policies in three major areas: employment services, language training, and vocational training. It also explains the roles of employers and civil society in immigrant integration, and discusses the significant institutional and policy changes that will affect integration outcomes in coming years.
The report is available to download.