The 2024 edition of Labour Migration Practitioners’ Network (LMPN) In-person conference brought 100 European practitioners in labour migration, skills recognition and employment to Brussels, Belgium for a two-day conference under the theme of “Moving Talents: Scaling up Action in Key Sectors”. After two days of lively discussions and in anticipation of the conference report, here are six take-aways from the conference.
1) Regular pathways enable personal aspirations
The keynote speech by European Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson set the tone for the meeting: in a landscape plagued by labour market shortages and shrinking workforce, regular migration pathways are the vehicle for personal aspirations of migrant workers all over the world.
This was confirmed by the ILO and the Spanish Secretary of State for Migration during their panel discussing the MPF-funded WAFIRA project, a scheme to complement an ongoing circular migration scheme set up through a bilateral agreement in the agriculture sector between Spain and Morocco. 250 Moroccan women, a small cohort of the 17,000 that travel yearly to Spain to pick berries, enrolled to create new businesses in Morocco that generate income year-round for their families that will provide alternatives to the yearly migration in the long run.
2) Long-term care joins the green and IT sectors as an area of focus for foreign workers
Gender-sensitive migration pathways gave way to discussions about three sectors suffering from lack of qualified workforce: green skills, IT and long term care were the highlights of the first day’s afternoon discussions.
Green Skills: Strategies to bridge green labour gaps through mobility
Cited solutions to green labour mobility challenges included vocational mobility schemes that would bridge between origin and destination countries, such as with apprenticeship models combining local and international training. Simplifying immigration systems was cited as critical, with targeted visas for green sectors and standardised qualifications to improve the recognition of foreign credentials. Likewise, strengthening public-private collaboration was seen as necessary, with employers co-designing training programmes and governments providing predictable pipelines and incentives for green investments.
For small and medium enterprises (SMEs), tailored support including funding and resources to recruit, train, and integrate migrant workers effectively were deemed paramount. Sectoral forecasting could help predict demand for roles such as solar panel technicians or wind turbine maintenance, ensuring training aligns with industry needs. Long-term strategies for increasing the specialised workforce would include investing in upskilling both migrants and local populations, creating rural hubs for renewable energy jobs, and reframing migration as an economic asset to drive the green transition.
IT Sector: a convoluted labour market fuels demand for adaptative pathways
The sector is temporarily experiencing a hiring slow-down, and many employers are turning to remote work for hiring junior roles. Skills requirements also vary, with some roles demanding niche expertise and others requiring broad competencies, shaping talent pathways and partnerships. Therefore, labour migration systems must address the dynamic nature of labour markets, where demand may fluctuate.
As with every sector looking to bring in foreign workers, tensions between political objectives and market needs are creating additional challenges. Approaches to migration differ globally: while certain European countries seek to restrict the overall intake of foreign workers, partner countries such as Nigeria express concern about brain drain of highly-skilled labour, while Egypt actively encourages migration to address youth unemployment in certain sectors.
In this context, participants highlighted internships and entrepreneur visas, alongside remote work, as providing the necessary initial steps towards eventual relocation. When citing good practices, comprehensive policies that address pre-departure such as Italy’s government-led initiatives, were deemed invaluable for skills, language, and cultural preparation, facilitating smoother transitions.
These are some of the dimensions tackled by several MPF mobility projects, such as MENTOR II, Move-Green and Digital Explorers.
Long-term care: from an informal to a professional workforce
As participants heard, a rapidly aging Europe demands skilled care: the number of people potentially in need of long-term care is projected to rise by 8 million across the continent by 2050. As participants discussed, addressing the shortages in the care sector will require exploring the creation and enhancement of legal migration pathways for care workers, discussing strategies for training, skills recognition and harmonisation, understanding the private sector’s role in addressing care workforce demands, and identifying actionable steps to get these initiatives underway. Ethical recruitment to ensure decent work and protection was flagged as a key issue for this sector.
One way that MPF is facilitating some of these ambitions is through the newly awarded GSP Soins project, implemented between Belgium and Morocco by Enabel. Over the next three years, the project will seek to create a sustainable skills partnership with Morocco in the care sector and share methodology, best practices and lessons learned with practitioners to explore scalability across the EU.
3) Developing new sector-specific pathways: truck divers needed
During the second day, practitioners were presented with the stark reality of a sector that fuels economies all over the world but is ailing from lack of qualified workforce. Against driver shortages that run in the millions, transport sector experts are concerned over the ability to deliver public services and maintain road safety.
Together with upskilling and diversifying the workforce, driver mobility schemes were cited as part of the mix of solutions that the International Road Transport Union (IRU) is trying to implement. This led the IRU to request funding through MPF for the Skilled Driver Mobility for Europe project, researching11 EU Member States and eight partner countries to identify the most favourable options for implementing driver mobility schemes.
4) Europe needs to attract and retain talent
Turning attention towards continent-level needs, attracting talent on national and regional levels has emerged as a crucial catalyst for fostering innovation and expansion in the EU. As businesses grapple with the challenge of sourcing and recruiting talent locally, they increasingly recognise the imperative to explore international avenues and tap into a global workforce.
Featuring a panel with representatives from the private sector and regional “talent houses” the discussions focused on the need for tailored assistance to SMEs, enhanced offerings to attract talent such as more immediate family reunification, spousal/partner work permits and also a need to promote the benefits of living in Europe. government pathways to scale up and look beyond the individual worker to encompass the family unit and incorporate wider trends such as greater work life balance and remote work.
5) There are over 290 labour pathways into the EU
One of the highlights of the conference was the presentation of the findings from the mapping of labour pathways across 27 EU Member States, commissioned by MPF to the European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDPM) and providing a snapshot of the pathways up to February 2024.
The mapping revealed an estimated 290-odd pathways active across the EU-27 and as the interventions from Belgian and Czech delegates illustrated, one key finding from the study was the striking divergence in how Member States approach migration.
Belgium relies on a demand-driven system where permits are issued based on employer demand rather than a points-based system.
Meanwhile, Czechia y has integrated Ukrainian refugees into its labour market with considerable success, but questions remain about its long-term reliance on low-skilled, low-cost labour with the country keen to attract highly-skill labour and taking active steps with the launch of a Work in Czechia website.
Cross-cutting barriers persist across the EU. Bureaucratic inefficiencies, slow permit processing, and insufficient digitalisation are common hurdles that make pathways less accessible to both employers and potential migrants. Additionally, the political narrative around migration continues to influence the attractiveness and implementation of these pathways.
One emerging trend highlighted during the session was the increasing emphasis on bilateral agreements with third countries to address specific skill shortages. This reflects a growing recognition of the need for collaboration between EU Member States and countries of origin to design pathways that meet mutual needs.
6) Conclusion: piloting, testing and feedback loops to continue under the umbrella of the LMPN
At the closing remarks, ICMPD echoed a clear call to continue piloting, adapting and learning from the projects, initiatives and research activities prepared under the umbrella of the LMPN. The growth in the network’s membership over the last year and the thriving ecosystem combining implementation on the ground with analytical capabilities will continue to provide opportunities for collaborative brainstorming in the next year under the direction of new European Commission and EU Parliament.
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