OECD assessment of immigration issues in Iceland

The number of immigrants has increased proportionally the most in Iceland over the past decade of all OECD countries. Despite the very high employment rate, the growing unemployment rate among immigrants is a cause for concern. The inclusion of immigrants must be higher on the agenda.

The assessment of the OECD, the European Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, on the issue of immigrants in Iceland was presented at a press conference in Kjarvalsstaðir, September 4th. Recordings of the press conference can be seen here on Vísir news agency website. Slides from the press conference can be found here.

In the OECD assessment, several interesting facts regarding immigration in Iceland are pointed out. These include the following:

• The number of immigrants has increased proportionally the most in Iceland over the past decade of all OECD countries.
• Immigrants in Iceland are a relatively homogeneous group compared to the situation in other countries, around 80% of them come from the European Economic Area (EEA).
• The percentage of people who come from EEA countries and settle in Iceland seems to be higher here than in many other Western European countries.
• The government’s policies and actions in the area of ​​immigration have so far mainly focused on refugees.
• The employment rate of immigrants in Iceland is the highest among the OECD countries and even higher than that of natives in Iceland.
• There is a small difference in the labour force participation of immigrants in Iceland depending on whether they come from EEA countries or not. But rising unemployment among immigrants is a cause for concern.
• Immigrants’ skills and abilities are often not used well enough. More than a third of highly educated immigrants in Iceland work in jobs that require less skills than they possess.
• Immigrants’ language skills are poor in international comparison. The percentage of those who claim to have good knowledge of the subject is the lowest in this country among the OECD countries.
• Expenditure on teaching Icelandic for adults is considerably lower than in comparative countries.
• Almost half of immigrants who have had difficulty finding work in Iceland cite a lack of Icelandic language skills as the main reason.
• There is a strong correlation between good skills in Icelandic and job opportunities on the labour market that match education and experience.
• The academic performance of children who were born in Iceland but have parents with a foreign background is a cause for concern. More than half of them do poorly in the PISA survey.
• Children of immigrants need Icelandic support at school based on a systematic and consistent assessment of their language skills. Such assessment does not exist in Iceland today.

The OECD has come up with a number of recommendations for corrective actions. Some of them can be seen here:

• More attention needs to be paid to immigrants from the EEA region, since they are the vast majority of immigrants in Iceland.
• The inclusion of immigrants must be higher on the agenda.
• Data collection regarding immigrants in Iceland needs to be improved so that their situation can be better assessed.
• The quality of Icelandic teaching needs to be improved and its scope increased.
• The education and skills of immigrants must be used better in the labour market.
• Discrimination against immigrants needs to be addressed.
• A systematic assessment of the language skills of immigrant children must be implemented.

The full report can be found here.

It was in December 2022 that the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour asked the OECD to carry out an analysis and assessment of the state of immigrant issues in Iceland. It is the first time that such an analysis has been carried out by the OECD in the case of Iceland.

The analysis was designed to support the formulation of Iceland’s first comprehensive immigration policy. The cooperation with the OECD has been a major factor in shaping the policy.

Guðmundur Ingi Guðbrandsson, Minister of Social Affairs and Labour, says that now that Iceland is working on its first comprehensive policy on immigrants, it is “important and valuable to get the eyes of the OECD on the issue.” The minister emphasized that this independent assessment should be carried out by the OECD, as the organization is very experienced in this field. The minister says it is “urgent to look at the subject in a global context” and that the assessment will be useful.

The OECD report can be found here in its entirety.

Skills and Labour Market Integration of Immigrants and their Children in Iceland