The social integration of immigrants and the role of policy : a literature review

The European refugee crisis of 2015 has led to a renewed surge of research into how to integrate refugees - as well as family and labour migrants – into European societies and in particular into EU labour markets. The papers in this Forum examine previous research on immigrant integration and update it with fresh data and new insights. Why do immigrants integrate better in some countries than others? Which skills have proven to be most essential for their successful integration, and what tools are available to countries to foster this integration? This Forum combines studies of the labour market integration programmes and methods used in specific countries - including a “best practice” review of the Canadian immigrant integration system - with a review of social integration measures and an analysis of Bosnian refugee integration efforts from the 1990s. While the labour market integration of immigrants will likely always remain a difficult task, the authors in this Forum hope to contribute to improving this process and consequently enriching both host countries’ economies and immigrants’ lives.