EUROSTAT
Directorate F: Social and information society statistics
Unit F-1: Population /
ESTAT/F1/STFM(2010)4
Strategic Task Force on Migration Statistics Mainstreaming
Brussels, 1st February 2010
9.00 a.m. – 4.30 p.m.
Brussels, DG EMPL
J-54 Building, room 00/124
Draft Work Programme for the Development of European Statistics on Migration
Draft work programme for the development of European statistics on migration
Context
The Malta Declaration, agreed by the Directors General of the National Statistical Institutes
in October 2009, called upon the Directors of Social Statistics to prepare a conceptual framework and work programme for the development of migration statistics.
The development of European-level policy on migration-related issues is continuing rapidly. The need for relevant, comprehensive, reliable and comparable European statistics to inform these policies has been widely noted. The ESS must provide an appropriate response to this need for statistical information.
Policy needs for statistical information
The 'Stockholm Programme', adopted by the Member State governments at the December 2009 European Council, sets a framework and series of principles for the ongoing development of European policies on justice and home affairs for the period 2010-2014 Migration-related issues are a central part of this Programme. One of the initiatives in the new Programme is ‘to consider how existing information sources and networks can be used more effectively to ensure the availability of the comparable data on migration issues’.
The Stockholm Programme can be seen as a continuation of the efforts that have been made since the Amsterdam Treaty came into force in 1999. European policies on migration and asylum have evolved through the implementation of the Tampere Programme (1999-2004) and the Hague Programme (2004-2009).
A Commission Communication issued in October 2008, ‘Strengthening the Global Approach to Migration’, emphasises the importance of migration as an aspect of external and development policy. The Pact on Immigration and Asylum, formally adopted by the Council of the EU, in October 2008 focuses on legal immigration; the control of illegal immigration; border controls; migration and development; and the finalization of a common European asylum system and migrant integration. A key element of these policy agreements is the importance of reliable statistical information to inform and monitor the effectiveness of policy actions.
Work on the development of agreed common indicators for integration is also well advanced. An Expert Meeting organised by the Swedish Presidency in December 2009 discussed integration indicators and the monitoring of the outcomes of the integration policies. These common indicators are expected to be adopted by justice and home affairs ministers under the current Spanish EU Presidency.
Together with the development of common policies, recent enlargement of European Union has stimulated labour migration within the EU. In most Member States migration is now the most important element of population change. The speed of changes and dynamic nature of current migration flows are a real challenge to policy-makers who need high quality information on which their decisions can be based. The urgent policy needs are for good quality statistical data on the size as well as characteristics of the migrant population.
Developing a work programme
This document presents proposals for actions to be included in a work programme intended to ensure that European statistics can develop to better meet these evolving policy needs for information on migration and migrants. The proposals presented here will be discussed by the Strategic Task Force, with the aim of producing a more detailed programme of actions to be undertaken in the short, medium and longer term. A revised draft work programme will be presented to the September 2010 meeting of the Directors of Social Statistics.
Many of these proposed actions have been discussed before in papers presented over the past 18 months to meetings of the Conference of European Statisticians, the DGINS and the DSS. Where necessary, these have been updated to take into account more recent developments and in response to comments received by those groups.
In practical terms, the implementation of these proposed actions will take a number
of different forms. As appropriate, these actions would be coordinated and implemented by Eurostat and the other institutions of the ESS. Some, for example, will require further investigation and possibly pilot studies to be undertaken by Eurostat and/or
a small number of national institutions. This may result in proposals for a broader application in other Member States. Other proposals are likely to be faster and simpler to undertake, with changes to procedures being agreed and implemented following agreement by the Strategic Task Force, DSS and ESSC. Even where actions are likely only to result in benefits in the longer term, steps to plan and prepare these actions can be undertaken now.
It would, for example, be possible to discuss now statistical data needs with the owners of administrative systems, with these needs being taken into account in a future redevelopment of the administrative systems.
In the context of migration mainstreaming, it is important to restate that these proposals relate not just to existing migration or population statistics. The needs for information on migrants must be taken into account as part of the ongoing development of a wide range of economic and social statistics. Developments will need to be based on an integrated approach as set out in the Eurostat vision for statistics production in the next decade, as opposed to the current stove-pipe based approach. Similarly, the work programme must be coherent with the work on re-engineering of social statistics. Core elements of the re-engineering strategy include
a focus on data integration involving the use of harmonised variables, data matching between surveys, and data linkage between survey and administrative sources. The beginning of the process of re-engineering offers an opportunity to propose and finally implement significant improvements and changes in the social statistics area, including measures that will mainstream migration-related issues across to a wide range of statistics.
Potential actions to be included in the work programme
Potential actions are proposed below under a series of broad headings. Certain actions are closely inter-linked and may need to be considered together.
Members of the Strategic Task Force are invited to suggest amendments or alternatives to these actions, or to propose additional measures that should be undertaken.The Strategic Task Force members' advice, experience and knowledge of relevant national-level activities will be essential to the development realistic and ambitious work programme.
An important aspect of the work programme will be a timetable and roadmap indicating when and how the different actions should be undertaken. This should be considered by the Strategic Task Force and will be developed further during the drafting of the work programme.
1.Adapt existing data sources
1.1. Adapting methodology of existing surveys
A cost effective option to improve the availability and reliability of survey data on migrants may be to make amendments to the methodologies of LFS, EU-SILC and possibly other appropriate surveys.
Proposed actions:
- review the methodology and properties of the sample used for the LFS and EU-SILC;
- propose appropriate methodological changes for the EU-SILC and LFS. These should be taken into account in the preparation of the new legislation for EU-SILC, as well as the development of the 2014 LFS module on migrants.
Expected impact:
The actions should result in changes to the size and to the structure of the survey sample or, if needed, changes in the sampling frame.It is essential that a sufficient and representative sample of migrants should be taken to allow for reliable statistics to be produced with an appropriate level of disaggregation.
1.2. Developing special migrant questions/modules that are attached to existing surveys
A related approach addresses specifically the question content of existing surveys rather than the overall methodology. Adapting existing survey data sources to better cover migrant populations offers a number of apparent attractions to both NSIs and data users. It will often be quicker and cheaper to amend or expand the procedures for an existing survey rather than create a completely new survey. Actions proposed below are closely inter-linked with those in point 1.1.
Proposed actions:
- identify needs and constraints relating to the addition of extra migration-related questions to existing surveys;
- make proposals for migration questions modules.
(The possible use of filter questions or migrant sub-samples to identify certain respondents to complete these modules should be addressed.)
Expected impact:
These actions should result in:
- additional information of particular relevance to migrants (for example, the reasons for migration, language ability, experience of discrimination);
- a better understanding of migration-related processes such as integration;
- identification of particular migration-related population sub-groups (such as recent migrants, second generation – native born of foreign born parents).
Issues to be considered:
It is important to review the list of Eurostat Social Core Variables to see whether these provide adequate information on migrant groups. In particular, to allow for the 'second generation' and other migration-related groups to be identified in the statistics, it is strongly recommended that the Core Variables should be extended to include country of birth of parents and/or citizenship at birth - to be added to those surveys where the sample size is sufficient to provide reliable results for these variables.
Synergies with other projects:
To avoid duplication of activities, the work on migration statistics mainstreaming should be coordinated with the Eurostat internal Task Force on Equality Statistics which addresses mainstreaming in equality statistics The aim of the Equality Statistics Task Force is to develop a general framework for the regular collection of statistics on the extent and the impact of discrimination on the different grounds referred to in the EU Equality Directives, but, in particular, focussing on discrimination because of 'religion or belief', 'sexual orientation' and 'race or ethnicity'. Some of the actions proposed are closely linked to migration statistics.
Eurostat is also actively participating in the work of the 'Suitland Working Group on the use of household surveys to measure migration and the size, distribution, and characteristics of migrant populations' organised by the US Census Bureau. The Suitland Group has developed under the framework of the Conference of European Statisticians Work Plan on Improving International Migration Statistics, promoted by the CES Steering Group on Migration, which is chaired by the United States. The Suitland Group is beginning seven projects that are intended to collect and disseminate information on best practices and tools (questionnaire modules, handbooks) that may be used by NSIs intending to make use of household surveys to provide information on migrants. Each of the projects addresses a specific methodological topic such as the linkage of administrative and survey data, or - as a tool for greater harmonisation - providing an inventory of successfully implemented migration-related questions or modules that may be adopted by other NSIs. The outputs of the Suitland Group projects will be directly relevant to this work on migration statistics mainstreaming. Efforts will be taken to avoid duplication of work between the Suitland Group and the ESS work programme on migration statistics.
1.3. Further development of residence permit statistics
Residence permit data offer information on the (recorded) immigration categories of the persons concerned, providing some information on the reasons for migration. The collection of these data from Interior Ministries has been developed by Eurostat and is now covered by Article 6 of Regulation 862/2007. There are several advantages of using and further developing this data source. The statistics collected are directly policy relevant as the definitions that apply to the data are derived from immigration legislation. Many categories of residence permit are now harmonised across the EU, with common definitions and rules applying to persons admitted for certain reasons – such as family reunion, family formation, or as students or researchers. This policy harmonisation is continuing. Importantly, these data can be collected rapidly with a limited additional burden on data suppliers.
Proposed actions:
- identify other statistical information(not covered by Regulation 862/2007)that is potentially available from the administrative systems used for residence permits; make proposals for the collection of this additional information;
- encourage the owners of administrative systems to take statistical needs into account when redesigning and redeveloping administrative systems.
Expected impact:
Residence permit data can be particularly useful to provide information on the socio-economic characteristics of recent migrants – those who make up the migrant flows. These are persons who are often less well covered in survey data sources.
Issues to be considered:
Residence permits are generally issued only to persons who are third country nationals. Moreover, a difficulty is that the national administrative systems are often not organised in such a way as to facilitate the extraction of statistical data. There is a potential role for NSIs to work with Interior Ministries to improve the situation.
2.Develop new data sources
2.1. Developing the statistical use of administrative data
Administrative data sources are already widely used for migration statistics. However, currently, the administrative sources used are generally limited to those associated with the registration of the population or the management of immigration; such as registers of the total population or of foreign citizens, or data on residence permits issued.
Proposed actions:
- investigate options for developing the statistical use of a broader range of administrative systems (in particular, those concerned with education or social protection);
- undertake concrete pilot data collection exercises, working with NSIs and administrative departments in a small number of Member States;
- make proposals for implementation of these data collections in all Member States where appropriate administrative data exist.
Expected impact:
This action should aim to ensure that the maximum possible use is made of administrative data.
Issues to be considered:
Legal barriers and data protection issues should need to be overcome. As in point 1.3.,
a difficulty is that the national administrative systems are often not organised in such
a way as to facilitate the extraction of statistical data.
Proposals will need to consider the differences between Member States in terms of the legal and administrative frameworks that exist, as well as the differing availability of administrative data. It is likely though that measures to use administrative data can be adapted to take these national differences into account.
2.2. Establishing a new targeted migrant survey/surveys
In many cases, only surveys are able to provide the complex and multidimensional data that are needed for a fuller understanding of migration-related processes. Ensuring the adequate coverage of migration-related issues in existing surveys (as considered under Actions 1.1 and 1.2 above) may require such extensive changes, that some Member States may want to consider undertaking surveys that are specifically targeted on migrant populations. This allows decisions concerning sampling, language and communication issues and question content to be fully focused on migrants. Some Member States have developed such surveys independently; others are known to be considering this option. For users of the statistics, a targeted survey potentially allows data to be produced that correspond far more closely to policy needs and priorities.
Proposed actions:
- review national level experiences of the use of targeted migrant surveys;
- develop proposals for a common European migrant survey that can provide data on social-economic profile of migrants
Expected impact:
Although a targeted survey may not beappropriate in all Member States, it would be valuable to have an agreed set of common questions and procedures to ensure comparability of the data between those Member States that did wish to participate. Concepts and definitions used should be compatible with the Eurostat Core Social Variables to allow comparison with data from other sources.
Issues to be considered:
- Topics to be covered
- Population(s) of interest
- Frequency – for example, a targeted survey may only be necessary every 5 years in order to provide richer explanatory data that may be linked to data available more frequently from other sources.
- make recommendations for specific survey activities linked to the decennial census
Expected impact:
It would be useful for those countries that do wish to develop census-related actions to coordinate their approaches as far as possible to maximise the comparability of data and to share methodological information.
Depending on national practices, it may be possible to use the census as a sampling frame for post-census surveys of migrants. The census results could be used to identify small geographical areas with high proportions for foreign citizens or foreign-born to be used for the oversampling of migrants on other surveys.
3.Definitions, concepts and methods
3.1. Priority target groups
Proposed actions:
- define the migration-related population groups that should be the focus of migration statistics (target groups);
- review the list of Eurostat Social Core Variables, if necessary propose additional or alternative items and definitions.
Expected impact:
The key target groups of relevance will be defined, taking into account the feasibility of covering these groups in the statistics as well as the needs of data users. The key groups should be reflected in revisions to the list of Eurostat Social Core Variables.
3.2. Mechanisms for integrating data from different sources
Proposed actions:
- investigate approaches to integrating data from different surveys and administrative sources;
- undertake, wherever possible, pilot exercises to integrate data from different sources – the results of these exercises will inform possible wider application of these approaches
Expected impact:
The Commission vision for reforming the production of European statistics envisages taking and combining data from different existing sources.
Issues to be considered:
Data integration is potentially an efficient way to maximise the use of data. However, there are significant technical issues to be overcome.