Migrants more active in labour market than locals – OECD
The 2020 report on international migration, presents some statistics that show a greater involvement of the foreign population in the labour market in Portugal compared to the Portuguese.
The labour market participation rate in Portugal in 2019 was higher among the migrant population than among locals, according to a report released on Monday by the OECD.
The 2020 report on international migration, released on Monday by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), presents some statistics that show a greater involvement of the foreign population in the labour market in Portugal compared to the Portuguese, but it also showed a higher unemployment rate.
The participation rate, which measures the percentage of people active or actively seeking employment within the active population, was 83.3% among the foreign population residing in Portugal in 2019, and 74.6% among the native population.
The employment rate was also higher among foreigners, with a record of 76.3%, against 69.8% among the native Portuguese population.
Despite a higher rate of participation in the labour market, which includes active job search, the unemployment rate affects the migrant population more. In 2019 it was 8.4%, against 6.5% of the native population.
The report also showed that the population growth in Portugal in 2019 was almost entirely due to migrants and this was the only reason for a positive balance since without this contribution the country would have lost 2.5 people per thousand inhabitants, but ending up with an increase of 1.9 people per thousand inhabitants.
Concerning remittances from emigrants and immigrants, the report indicates that in 2019 Portugal received $4.237 billion (about €3.7 billion), 4.1% less than the previous year and equivalent to 1.8% in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
The remittances sent by immigrants, in this case for the year 2018, corresponding to $245 million (about €210 million), 18.5% less than the previous year and equivalent to 0.1% in the GDP.
In 2018, immigration flows into Portugal were mainly due to family reunions, with 21,000 people arriving for this reason, representing 33% of the universe of long-term immigrants. 20,000 people (31%) arrived to work and only 1% of the total, corresponding to 600 people, arrived in the country for humanitarian reasons.
Brazil, Italy and France are the countries of origin of most immigrants who arrived in Portugal in 2018.
The Portuguese who left the country in 2018 mostly chose the United Kingdom, Spain and Switzerland as their preferred destinations.
