Conference of European Statisticians: Work Plan to Improve International Migration Statistics

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Conference of European StatisticiansWork Plan
to Improve International Migration Statistics

• Victoria A. Velkoff
• Dean H. Judson
• Edward N. Trevelyan

UNECE/Eurostat Work Session on Migration
Statistics November 20-22, 2006
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Introduction

• CES Work Plan is a cooperative effort of National
  Statistical Offices (NSOs) and International
  Organizations (IOs) to evaluate the consistency
  of international migration statistics and to
  propose recommendations for improving
  international migration statistics.
• 3 general problems recognized
• Missing data
• data on emigration
• Incomplete data
• data on undocumented migrants
• Inconsistent data
• data on temporary migrants

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Introduction, cont.

• Framework for the collection of comparable data
  increasingly important
• Policy makers link migration to issues of
  national security, international relations, and
  economic development (including health and
  education)
• Collection of migration data should focus on the
  statistical issues
• The Work Plans timetable is intended to allow
  meaningful reforms prior to the 2010 round of
  censuses

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Steering Committee

• Australia
• Canada
• Eurostat
• IMF
• OECD
• Switzerland
• United States
• United Kingdom
• UNECE
• UNSD
• World Bank

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Ultimate Goal of CES Work Plan

• Improve the collection and use international
  migration statistics

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6 Outputs of Work Plan

• Metadata inventory of definitions
• Pilot projects to assess duration thresholds
• Pilot projects to measure emigration
• Define residency rules for temporary migrants
• Harmonize concepts and definitions of remittances
  between BOP and surveys
• Propose recommendations to improve collection and
  use of international migration statistics

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Output 1 Produce a metadata inventory,
including

• A crosswalk of various (operational) definitions
  for immigrant stocks and flows
• Definitions of migrants whose were not included
  in the 1998 Recommendations
• A compilation of current/emerging practices used
  in NSOs to measure temporary and illegal migrants
  
• Target dates December 2007
• Players UNECE, OECD, Eurostat, U.S. Census
  Bureau

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Output 1 a) A crosswalk of various (operational)
definitions for immigrant stocks and flows

• Foreign born
• Foreign background
• Country of usual residence
• Long-term migrant
• Short-term migrant

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Output 1b) Definition of different typologies of
migrants not included in the 1998 Recommendations

• Temporary migrants
• Labor migrants
• Circular migrants
• People who move repeatedly between different
  countries
• Irregular migrants / undocumented migrants

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Output 1 c) a compilation of current or emerging
practices used in NSOs to measure temporary and
unauthorized migrants

• Collect methodology best practices from NSOs
• Improved strategies to measure difficult-to-measu
  re populations
• Metadata for estimation methodology
• Definitions of groups
• Questions asked on surveys and censuses

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Output 2 Design and administer pilot projects to
assess implications of different duration
thresholds

• Assess the consequences of using different
  durations (3 months, 6 months, one year)
• Impact on flow estimates, composition, and net
  migration
• Use a small, but representative, group of
  countries
• Censuses vs. registers vs. samples or rolling
  samples

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Output 2 Design and administer pilot projects to
assess implications of different duration
thresholds

• Target dates End 2007
• Players Australia and UNECE, Canada, United
  Kingdom, United States
• Next steps
• Additional countries
• Develop protocol

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Output 3 Design and administer pilot projects to
measure emigration using data collected by the
receiving country

• Deficiencies in measuring out migration
• Key questions
• Can host country adequately measure change in
  immigration?
• Is change consistent with other data sources?
• Is method of analysis portable for use by other
  countries?
• UNECE Pilot Project on Estimating Emigration
  (findings reported Monday)

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Output 3 Design and administer pilot projects to
measure emigration using data collected by the
receiving country

• Players UNECE (coordinator)
• Group 1 Albania, FYR Macedonia, Italy,
  Switzerland
• Group 2 France, Portugal, Spain, United Kingdom
  
• Group 3 Australia, Canada, Czech Republic, FYR
  Macedonia, Italy, Norway, Poland, United Kingdom,
  United States
• Group 4 Estonia, Finland, Georgia, Kazakhstan,
  Norway, Russia.
• Target dates Accomplished 2006!
• Next steps
• Finalization of protocols for exchange,
  guidelines, other comments

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Output 4 Define Residency Rules

• Residency rules for migrants (non-visitors) who
  are in a country less than 3 months
• Residency rules for migrants who have been in a
  country more than 3 months and less than 12
  months
• Definition of temporary workers
• Economic/Financial frameworks
• Demographic frameworks
• Target date ??
• Players ?? Global level?

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Output 5 Recommend the definition and
classification of remittances

• When is a cross-border financial transaction a
  remittance?
• Define and classify remittances
• Accomplished
• Next steps
• Issue paper on harmonization of concepts between
  BOP and surveys
• Expert group meeting?
• Global context?

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Output 6 Recommendations for improving
international migration statistics

• Reflecting the findings from Outputs 1-5
• Steering Committee to propose recommendations to
  improve collection and use of international
  migration statistics