By the EESC Employers' Group

Employers see a growing role for economic migration as part of the EU's overall policy mix for providing the skills and labour that European companies need in order to be competitive, productive and innovative. The role of economic migration as part of the EU's policy response for enhancing the availability of a skilled workforce is set against the backdrop of a declining working age population; stagnating intra-EU mobility and skills mismatches and labour shortages across a wide range of sectors.

The seminar: "EU economic migration policies: responding to labour market and skills needs" explored how the EU's economic migration policy can help to promote a more demand-led approach to migration. It considered the different tools, policy approaches and initiatives at EU, national and sectoral level that shape the role that migration plays in helping to address employers' skills needs.

The event was co-organised by BusinessEurope and the EESC Employers' Group on 7 November 2022. Speakers and participants included Ylva Johansson, Commissioner for home affairs, and representatives from the European Commission, Cedefop, EU and national social partners, national authorities, as well as EESC members.

At the event, EESC Employers' Group President Stefano Mallia emphasised the importance of economic migration: "In a situation where EU domestic workforce alone is not sufficient to keep the wheels of the European economy turning, the EU and Member States must continue to facilitate the migration of skilled workers from non-EU countries, and Member States should ensure that their national systems – for instance labour market tests – are built in a manner that facilitates addressing labour and skills shortages effectively."

Markus Beyrer, CEO of BusinessEurope agreed: "We call on the European Commission to make progress towards an EU expression of interest type of economic migration system to help Europe become more attractive to available talents globally. We look forward to contributing to shaping with the Commission the full version of the proposed talent pool, to make sure it is well aligned with employers' needs across Europe."

The discussions showed that cooperation and coordination between the EU, Member States and stakeholders (especially employers) is needed to ensure that the EU's economic migration policy can help to promote a more demand-led approach to migration. The EU Talent Pool can play an important role in helping to match migrants from non-EU countries with available job vacancies. The new EU Migration Platform on improving the governance of labour migration, outlined in the Skills and Talent Package, should improve cooperation and coordination between all relevant stakeholders. Given the importance of having well-functioning national migration policy frameworks, the Commission should identify opportunities for mutual learning and peer review on issues such as ensuring regularly updated shortage occupation lists and well-functioning labour market tests.

Find the full summary of the event here: https://www.eesc.europa.eu/en/news-media/news/eu-economic-migration-policies-responding-labour-market-and-skills-needs-0 (dv)