This Migration Policy Institute event marks the release of the book Immigrants in a Changing Labor Market with a discussion on how to make the U.S. immigration system more effective in meeting labor market needs. The discussion features Jason Furman, Assistant to the President for Economic Policy and Principal Deputy Director of the National Economic Council; Georgetown Professor Harry Holzer, who was chief economist at the U.S. Labor Department; and the book’s editors, MPI Senior Vice President Michael Fix, President Demetrios Papademetriou, and Senior Policy Analyst Madeleine Sumption. The panelists discuss immigration at high-, middle-, and low-skill levels, current and proposed policy, how to measure labor shortages, and the flexibility that should be built into the U.S. immigration system.

For more on MPI’s Labor Markets Initiative, visit, www.migrationpolicy.org/lmi

Purchase a copy of the book at http://www.migrationpolicy.org/bookstore/labormarkets.php

Listen Now:

 Standard Podcasts [01:27:18m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (Loading)

In this Migration Policy Institute event, immigration experts with decades of policy experience in and out of government examine issues at the heart of immigration reform, including: How would the registration process of a legalization program for unauthorized immigrants best be designed and implemented? How should future flows for needed workers be determined? And what will be the effects of barring access to services for the newly legalized? MPI President Demetrios G. Papademetriou discusses lessons from IRCA, economic issues, and mechanisms to allow for future immigration flows; Muzaffar Chishti, Director, MPI Office at NYU School of Law, discusses labor concerns and provides a conclusion on political realities; Michael Fix, Senior Vice President and Director of Studies and Co-Director, National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy, addresses impacts on immigrant integration, including impacts on healthcare costs; and Doris Meissner, Director of MPI’s US Immigration Policy Program, provides an overview on issues associated with a legalization program.

Visit www.migrationpolicy.org/CIR for research on US immigration policy.

Listen Now:

 Standard Podcasts [01:28:04m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (Loading)

This joint Migration Policy Institute and International Organization for Migration breakfast briefing discuss the Issue in Brief, Thailand at a Crossroads: Challenges and Opportunities in Leveraging Migration for Development, the sixth in an eight-paper monthly joint-publication series offering succinct insights on current migration issues affecting the Asia-Pacific region. Mr. Jerry Huguet, Consultant on Population and Development, and Ms. Claudia Natali, Labour Migration Programme Manager, IOM Thailand, will present key findings of the report, while Mr. Jeffrey Labovitz, Chief of Mission, IOM Thailand, will moderate the panel. Mr. Rattanarut, Expert on foreign workers administration and Independent Consultant (TBC) reflects on the government’s role in formulating and implementing effective policies for migration and development.

Download the Issue Brief | Learn more on MPI’s Migration and Development Program

Listen Now:

 Standard Podcasts [01:47:08m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (Loading)

This joint Migration Policy Institute and International Organization for Migration event marks the Issue brief launch of Strengthening Pre-Departure Orientation Programmes in Indonesia, Nepal and the Philippines, which explored issues affecting migrant workers in relation to the pre-departure orientation program.  Andrew Bruce, Regional Director, IOM Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific moderated the panel; Ms. Yuko Hamada, Senior Labour Migration and Development Officer, IOM Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, presented key findings, and H.E. Mr. Lutfi Rauf, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Embassy of Indonesia to Thailand, provided commentary on the report and discussion.

Download the Issue Brief | Learn more on MPI’s Migration and Development Program

Listen Now:

 Standard Podcasts [01:38:57m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (Loading)

This joint Migration Policy Institute and International Organization for Migration event marks the Issue brief launch of Regulating Private Recruitment in the Asia-Middle East Labour Migration Corridor, with author Dovelyn Rannveig Agunias, Regional Research Officer, IOM and Policy Analyst, MPI; Supang Chantavanich, Professor, Chulalongkorn University and Director, Asian Research Center for Migration; Jaewon Kim, Manager, Business for Social Responsibility; and Rabab Fatima, Regional Coordinator and Advisor for South Asia, IOM Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific. Panelists discussed the Asian migrant worker experience in the Middle East and offered insights on migration issues affecting the Asia-Pacific region today.  

Download the Issue Brief | Learn more on MPI’s Migration and Development Program

Listen Now:

 Standard Podcasts [01:58:00m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (Loading)

This joint Migration Policy Institute (MPI) and International Organization for Migration (IOM) event marks the launch in Bangkok, Thailand of an issue brief series on labor migration in Asia. Speakers  include H.E. Phadermchai Sasomsub, Minister of Labour, Government of Thailand; H.E. Kazi Imtiaz Hossain, Ambassador, Government of Bangladesh; H.E. Linglingay Lacanlale, Ambassador, Government of the Philippines; Andrew Bruce, Regional Director, IOM; and Dovelyn Rannveig Agunias, IOM Regional Research Officer and MPI Policy Analyst. Download Mrs. Agunias' PowerPoint presentation here.

Read the first of the issue brief series, Labour Migration from Colombo Process Countries: Good Practices, Challenges and Ways Forward.

Listen Now:

 Standard Podcasts [01:19:56m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (Loading)

During this 30-minute presentation, Migration Policy Institute Senior Vice President Michael Fix and Policy Analyst Jeanne Batalova discuss their report, Up for Grabs: The Gains and Prospects of First- and Second-Generation Young Adults, which profiles the population of first- and second-generation young adults in the United States between the ages of 16 and 26. These young adults from immigrant families, numbering 11.3 million, represent one in four people in the United States between the ages of 16-26 and account for half of the growth of the young adult population between 1995 and 2010. This report, done through a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, finds substantial generational progress in terms of high school graduation, college enrollment, and ability to earn family-sustaining wages. Second-generation Hispanic women are faring particularly well, with college enrollment rates equal to those of third-generation non-Hispanic white women. However, they are not graduating from college at the same rate or on the same timeline because of family, work, or economic reasons. The report sketches how postsecondary education, workforce development, and language training programs could better meet the needs of this population, which will assume a greater role as the US workforce ages.

This Migration Policy Institute webinar discusses labor enforcement laws during the Clinton, Bush and Obama administrations and chronicles gaps in labor protection. Donald M. Kerwin, MPI Vice President for Programs and author of MPI’s report, Labor Standards Enforcement and Low-Wage Immigrants: Creating an Effective Enforcement System, argues that enforcement of labor laws should become a higher priority, particularly amid high rates of unemployment and underemployment. He also discusses the view that labor standards enforcement should become a pillar of immigration policymaking and sketches the elements necessary for an effective labor standards enforcement system.

The webinar powerpoint is available here.

Listen Now:

 Standard Podcasts [00:27:48m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (Loading)

At this event, MPI releases a new report, Executive Action on Immigration: Six Ways to Make the System Work Better, that outlines recommendations for executive actions that the administration can implement to improve the immigration system. Here to discuss their report are the authors: Donald Kerwin, MPI Vice President for Programs; Doris Meissner, Director, US Immigration Policy Program at MPI; and Margie McHugh, Co-Director of MPI's National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy. Joining the discussion are: Eva Millona, Executive Director of the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Coalition, and Juan P. Osuna, Acting Director of the Executive Office for Immigration Review at the US Department of Justice.

Listen Now:

 Standard Podcasts [01:12:28m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (Loading)

This Migration Policy Institute event discusses the release of the MPI report, Immigration Policy and Less-skilled Workers in the United States: Reflections on Future Directions for Reform. The report, and the discussion, examine economists’ views on the costs and benefits of low-skilled immigration, and some policy options to reform the U.S. immigration system to make it more economically beneficial. Among the options discussed: Providing legal pathways for low-skilled workers, allowing less-skilled workers on employment-based visas to switch employers more easily and gain a path to citizenship, and setting employer visa fees at a level sufficient to offset some of the costs that low-skilled immigration imposes. The discussion is opened by MPI Senior Vice President, Michael Fix, followed by the report author, Harry Holzer, a professor at the Georgetown Public Policy Institute. Commenting on the report findings are Demetrios G. Papademetriou, President, MPI; Darrell M. West, Vice President and Director of Governance Studies, Brookings Institution; and Doris Meissner, Senior Fellow and Director of MPI’s US Immigration Policy Program.

Listen Now:

 Standard Podcasts [01:22:00m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (Loading)

During this presentation, Assistant U.S. Secretary for Postsecondary Education Eduardo Martín Ochoa and Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce Director Anthony P. Carnevale join Michael Fix and Margie McHugh, Co-Directors of MPI’s National Center on Immigrant Immigration Policy, to discuss findings from the MPI report, Still an Hourglass? Immigrant Workers in Middle-Skilled Jobs. The moderator is MPI President Demetrios Papademetriou. The report, which examines immigrant employment in the US workforce overall and four key sectors (IT, health care, construction, and hospitality), finds that the fastest growth in immigrant employment since 2000 has occurred in middle-skilled jobs. To read the report, visit: www.migrationpolicy.org/​pubs/​sectoralbrief-Sept2010.pdf.

Listen Now:

 Standard Podcasts [01:19:35m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (Loading)

This briefing was organized by MPI, the Migration and Health Research Center at the University of California, Davis; the Health Initiative of the Americas at the University of California, Berkeley’s School of Public Health; and the UC Global Health Institute. The briefing, which focuses on migrants’ higher rates of on-the-job injuries, was moderated by MPI Senior Vice President Michael Fix. Panelists include John Howard, Director, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health; Deborah Berkowitz, Chief of Staff, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, US Department of Labor; Marc Schenker, Director, Migration and Health Research Center, University of California, Davis; Bruce Goldstein, Executive Director, Farmworker Justice; and Xochitl Castañeda, Director, Health Initiative of the Americas, School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley.

Listen Now:

 Standard Podcasts [01:19:20m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (Loading)

The Migration Policy Institute holds a briefing to discuss the release of the latest paper by its Labor Markets Initiative: The Impact of Immigrants in Recession and Economic Expansion. Speakers are report author Giovanni Peri, UC Davis Professor of Economics; Ross Eisenbrey, Vice President, Economic Policy Institute; and Demetrios G. Papademetriou, MPI President.

Listen Now:

 Standard Podcasts [01:29:45m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (Loading)

During this awards ceremony held in Washington, D.C. on May 18, 2010, the Migration Policy Institute awarded its 2010 E Pluribus Unum Prizes to four of the most exceptional immigrant integration initiatives in the country, honoring each with the award and a $50,000 check. The Prizes program  seeks to inspire and provide models to others who are working to help immigrants and their children join the mainstream of U.S. society and build stronger ties between immigrant and native-born communities. The 2010 winners are:

• Illinois New Americans Integration Initiative, a joint partnership of the Illinois Department of Human Services and the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights
• Latino Community Credit Union
• Tacoma Community House
• Upwardly Global
• Receiving an honorable mention: McDonald’s Corporation, for its “English Under the Arches” program.

The ceremony was opened by MPI President Demetrios Papademetriou, and Assistant Attorney General Tom Perez, who oversees the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, provided remarks. The award presenters: Michael Fix and Margie McHugh, Co-Directors of MPI’s National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy, which administers the prizes program. Congressman Mike Honda also spoke, and the ceremony was closed by Brad Davidson, a trustee of the J.M. Kaplan Fund, which provides generous support for the E Pluribus Unum Prizes.

Listen Now:

 Standard Podcasts [01:29:45m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (Loading)

In this briefing at the Migration Policy Institute, Public Policy Institute of California researchers Magnus Lofstrom and Laura Hill discuss their research examining the potential labor market outcomes and other possible economic effects of a legalization program. The discussion was moderated by Doris Meissner, MPI Senior Fellow and Director of the US Immigration Policy Program, with comments from MPI Senior Policy Analyst Randy Capps.

Listen Now:

 Standard Podcasts [01:26:09m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (Loading)

Illegal immigration's overall impact on the US economy is negligible, despite clear benefits for employers and unauthorized immigrants and slightly depressed wages for low-skilled native workers, according to this report by University of California, San Diego Professor of Economics Gordon Hanson for MPI's Labor Markets Initiative. The largest economic gains from illegal immigration flow to unauthorized workers, who see very substantial income hikes after migrating, Hanson says, suggesting that policy changes could increase the positive contribution that low-skilled workers make to the US economy by converting illegal flows to legal ones. Download Report | Press Release | Watch Event Video | Event PPT | Watch Video

Listen Now:

 Standard Podcasts [1:26:46m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (Loading)

Book release and discussion with Demetrios G. Papademetriou, MPI President; Michael S. Teitelbaum, Program Director, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation; Carl Haub, Senior Demographer and Conrad Taeuber Chair of Public Information, Population Reference Bureau; and Joseph J. Minarik, Senior Vice President and Director of Research, Committee for Economic Development. Purchase Book: US orders | International orders

Listen Now:

 Standard Podcasts [02:16:11m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (Loading)