The International Migration Outlook 2024 highlights inter alia the following key findings:

• With 6.5 million new permanent-type immigrants in the OECD area, 2023 set a historic new record. Most of the 2023 increase was driven by family migration (+16%), but humanitarian migration (+20%) was also on the rise.
   
• Temporary labour migration to OECD countries continued to grow. More than 2.4 million work permits and authorisations were granted in OECD countries (excluding Poland) representing a 16% year-on-year increase (28% above pre-COVID levels). 
   
• The number of new asylum seekers to OECD countries also broke a new record in 2023, with 2.7 million new applications registered across OECD countries (+30%). The surge was largely driven by the United States. Altogether, OECD countries granted international protection to 676 000 refugees in 2023 (+15%) – the highest level since 2017.
   
• The post-pandemic upward trend in immigrant employment continued into 2023, with the OECD overall seeing both historically high levels of employment and low levels of unemployment, at 71.8% and 7.3%, respectively.
   
• Skill shortages and demographic challenges continue to fuel interest in labour migration and require countries to strike a balance between restriction and attraction, to remain competitive destinations for foreign workers and international students.
   
• Migrants represent a growing share of total entrepreneurs in OECD countries. In 2022, 17% of the self-employed in OECD countries on average were migrants, up from 11% in 2006. This increase translated into significant job creation. There are an estimated additional 2 jobs in the economy for every 10 additional migrants in the working age population through entrepreneurship, on average across 25 OECD countries. Migrant entrepreneurship added almost 4 million jobs from 2011 to 2021.

For further details, please read this press release and find the online publication here.