Proportion of migrants with degrees on the rise – OECD

By Yojana Sharma. As international migration has risen in recent decades, the proportion of migrants with university degrees has also increased – with the most recent migrants to developed countries likely to be the best educated – according to just-released statistics from the OECD.
One third of immigrants who arrived less than five years ago in OECD countries, or some 5.2 million people, are tertiary educated. This has enormous human capital implications for both sending and destination countries.
“On average, the proportion of higher education graduates is greater among recent immigrants than for the native-born populations of the OECD countries (24%) or for longer standing immigrant communities (27%),” according to an OECD report presented at a conference held on 5 October in Paris, on identifying and better using migrants’ skills.
Harnessing the Skills of Migrants and Diasporas to Foster Development, prepared in cooperation with France’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, found that in Canada, Australia, Ireland and the UK more than half of recent migrants are higher education graduates.
The finding that new immigrants are better educated reflects “both the selective nature of migration to OECD countries and the increase of the education level of young people in countries of origin,” it said. More...