Studi Emigrazione – dicembre 2003 – n.152

Integration of migrants in Europe: data sources and measurement in old and new receiving countries

The level and type of insertion of foreign immigrants and their descendents in various sectors of the host society have always been a topic of considerable interest not only for researchers in the social sci­ences but also for legislative bodies, central and local governments, trade-union organisations and public opinion. The determination of the rights and duties of newcomers, the effects of the immigrant pres­ence and the optimal size of further foreign immigration have indeed been controversia! issues in the politica! debate in various countries, and in some cases, have been the key topic of lively election campaigns. In the past 30 years, concern for these issues has become even more im­portant. This is motivated by the social and economie changes occur­ring in the host countries (in particular, the rise in unemployment lev­els, the restructuring of the production system and the weight of the in­forma! economy) together with the changes in the causes and charac­teristics of international migration (in particular the prevalence of push factors over pull factors, the globalisation of migration and the greater relevance of unauthorized migration).