Origin and integration: a study of migrants in the 2016 Irish Census

Abstract

I am very pleased to introduce this study on migrant integration using data from Census 2016. The study has been funded by the Department of Justice and Equality under its Equality and Integration Research Programme with the Economic and Social Research Institute. Integration research such as this is essential to the development of evidence-informed policy on integration. This study -the fourth to be produced under the Research Programme, which commenced in 2017makes an important contribution to what we know about outcomes for migrants to Ireland. More detailed analysis -made possible by access to the Census microdata -reveals variations in integration outcomes by country of birth, which have not been visible in previous studies. I would like to express my thanks to the Central Statistics Office for making this data available to the Research Programme.By examining key indicators of integration by country of birth for the first time, this study gives us new insights into the ways that integration journeys differ depending on their point of origin. Data on English language skills, educational attainment, employment status and occupational attainment are analysed by country of birth and compared to data on the Irish-born population to build up a detailed picture of integration outcomes and how they vary across different groups. This gives us a better understanding of who is more likely to face barriers to integration, what these barriers are, and how to formulate effective policies to support people in

COVID-19 and non-Irish nationals in Ireland

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“…The report examines the early impact of COVID-19 in Ireland on non-Irish nationals compared to Irish nationals, using the latest available data. It was produced as part of a programme of research on Integration and Equality, funded by Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth in line with the Migrant Integration Strategy 2017-2020, to complement the Monitoring Report on Integration 2020 (McGinnity et al, 2020a).…”

Youth Knowledge and Perceptions of Climate Mitigation

“…International research on the labour-market outcomes of naturalised and non-naturalised immigrants has typically found that having the citizenship of the host country is associated with better labour-market outcomes for immigrants (Liebig and Von Haaren, 2011;Hoxhaj et al, 2019). Analysis conducted by McGinnity et al (2020a) on migrants in…”

Supporting integration? International practices on civics and language requirements linked to naturalisation: policy implications for Ireland

“…Language skills can facilitate integration to the labour market, as well as to society more generally. Recent research using Census 2016 microdata has shown that immigrants in Ireland with better self-rated English language skills are more likely to be employed and have better jobs when they are employed (McGinnity et al, 2020). Fahey et al (2019), analysing the residential distribution of immigrants in Ireland, find that while there is no evidence that migrants in general are concentrated in disadvantaged areas in Ireland.…”

“…Goodman (2010) categorises Ireland's citizenship rules as 'enabling', whereby citizenship is viewed as a mechanism for establishing equal status and rights and therefore enabling, rather than 'rewarding', integration. Similarly, in a review of policies granting access to nationality, MIPEX ranked Ireland 14 out of 38 countries, reporting Ireland's naturalisation requirements and procedure to be 'halfway favourable' (Huddleston et al, 2015 likely to be employed, and when they are employed to have a better job, than those who are not Irish citizens (McGinnity et al, 2020). 211 This suggests that the acquisition of Irish citizenship may facilitate labour market integration though the direction of causality is uncertain.…”