OECD Factbook 2007: Migration
The OECD Factbook 2007 has 10 sections that provide data on 10 items, from population to economics to quality of life; there is a special section on migration.The OECD defines immigrants to include persons granted permanent residence rights in traditional immigration countries and those granted at least one-year residence in other countries. The 30 OECD countries received about 2.5 million immigrants in 2004, including one million in the US, 300,000 in the UK, 236,000 in Canada, and 200,000 in Germany. About half of the immigrants to OECD countries originate in another OECD country.About 25 percent of Canadian immigrants were selected for work reasons (their families were another 32 percent of Canadian immigrants), while only eight percent of US immigrants were selected for work reasons (their families were another nine percent of US immigrants); 70 percent of US immigrants join family members already settled in the US. The foreign-born population was on average 11 percent of OECD residents, and ranged in individual countries from 24 percent in Australia and 23 percent in Switzerland to three percent in Finland and Hungary (the US had 13 percent foreign-born residents). The foreign population refers to non-citizens regardless of where they were born, and was on average seven percent of OECD residents. Some 20 percent of Swiss residents were foreigners, as were almost 10 percent of residents of Austria and Germany.Among the native-born 15 and older in OECD countries in 2000, 40 percent had less than an upper secondary school education, 40 percent had completed secondary schooling, and 20 percent completed tertiary schooling, which ranged from two-year associate degrees to those with doctorates. Among the foreign born, the percentages were 40, 35, and 25, that is, a higher share of foreign-born residents had completed university degrees. In Australia and Ireland, over 40 percent of foreign-born residents had completed tertiary schooling, compared with less than 15 percent in Germany and Italy.An average of seven percent of persons with tertiary schooling in OECD countries were from other OECD countries in 2000; an average of five percent were from non-OECD countries. For example, 17 percent of those in Australia with tertiary schooling are from other OECD countries, and 12 percent are from non-OECD countries. For the US, four percent are from OECD countries, and nine percent from non-OECD countries. Some 20 percent of Switzerland's residents with tertiary education were from other OECD countries, while Canada had the highest share of non-OECD origin residents with such schooling, 16 percent.Some 320,000 foreigners applied for asylum in OECD countries in 2005, including 50,000 each in France and the US and almost 30,000 each in the UK and Germany.In most OECD countries, a higher share of the native-born than the foreign-born are employed, with the greatest gap for women. For example, in Germany 70 percent of the native-born men were employed in 2004, compared with 64 percent of the foreign-born men; 60 percent of the native-born women, and 46 percent of the foreign-born women, were employed. Unemployment rates for the foreign-born are typically higher, for instance, 18 percent for foreign-born men in Germany, compared to 10 percent for native-born men.The exceptions were the US, Italy and Spain. Foreign-born men are more likely to be employed than native-born men in the US in 2004, 80 percent compared to 73 percent, while foreign-born women are less likely to be employed than native-born women, 65 percent compared to 56 percent. In Italy, 81 percent of the foreign-born men were employed, compared to 70 percent of the native-born men, while 49 percent of the foreign-born women and 45 percent of native-born women were employed.The OECD reports the number of migrants from various countries in OECD countries, led by 9.4 million Mexicans; 2.3 million Poles; 2.1 million each from India and the Philippines; 1.6 million from Morocco; and 1.3 million each from Portugal and Romania.Other data. The 30 OECD countries accounted for 18 percent of the world's 6.4 billion people in 2004, about the same as India. The US has a quarter of the OECD population, 60 percent of OECD residents are in five countries, the US, Japan, Mexico, Germany, and Turkey. Fertility averaged 1.6 births per woman, and was below replacement in all OECD countries except Mexico and Turkey, where women averaged 2.2 children. About 15 percent of OECD residents are 65 or older; 20 percent in Italy and Japan, and five percent in Mexico and Turkey.GDP per capita averaged $30,000 in 2005, and ranged from $7,700 in Turkey and $10,600 in Mexico to almost $50,000 in Norway and $42,000 in the US. Gross national income, which is GDP plus net receipts of those abroad less than 12 months and property income, was the same. Between 1992 and 2005, economic growth in the OECD countries averaged 2.6 percent a year, and ranged from over five percent in Ireland and Korea to less than two percent in France, Germany, Japan and Italy.General government debt was an average 77 percent of GDP in 2005, and ranged from a low of 17 percent in Australia to 173 percent in Japan; US government debt was 62 percent of US GDP. There are three major types of public social assistance: for pensions, which were an average eight percent of GDP in 2003, for health, an average six percent, and for income support, five percent. With other social assistance, the average OECD country spends about 21 percent of GDP on public social expenditures. Sweden spends 31 percent of its GDP on public social assistance, and Mexico seven percent; the US spends 16 percent.All OECD countries support their agricultural sectors. The Producer Support Estimate includes payments to farmers as well as the cost to consumers of trade protections that raise food prices. The highest PSEs are in Switzerland and Norway, where government support is two-thirds of gross farm receipts. The lowest PSEs are in Australia and New Zealand, less than five percent. The EU PSE of 32 percent is twice the US PSE of 16 percent of the value of farm receipts.Services account for 70 percent of the value added in OECD economies; in most countries, services value added is dominated by trade, transport, and business services related to goods production. Value added by agriculture was 10 percent in Turkey, five percent in Poland, and four percent in Greece, Hungary, and Mexico.In most OECD economies, 70 percent of enterprises have less than 10 employees, but the enterprises with more than 20 employees usually account for more than 70 percent of total employment.OECD countries are major traders. On average, the value of imports and exports combined was 45 percent of their GDP, but was much higher in Belgium (86 percent) and lower in the US (13 percent). The US ran the largest deficit in trade in goods, -$830 billion in 2005, and Germany had the largest surplus, +$200 billion. The US had the largest surplus in trade in services, +$65 billion in 2005, and Germany the largest deficit, -$50 billion.An average 66 percent of persons 15 to 64 were employed in OECD countries in 2005, ranging from a low of 46 percent in Turkey to a high of 75 percent in Norway. An average 79 percent of men and 55 percent of women were employed; the range for women, from 24 percent in Turkey to 81 percent for Iceland, was far larger than the range for men, from 59 percent in Poland to 84 percent in Switzerland.The average hours worked per year was 1,700 in 2005. Koreans work the most hours, 2,400, and Germans the fewest, 1,400; the US average is 1,800 hours. Payroll taxes were an average 37 percent of the cost of labor in 2005, and ranged from a low of 17 percent in Korea to a high of almost 50 percent in Sweden; they were 29 percent in the US.The OECD defines researchers as professionals conceiving and creating new products, and estimated there were 3.6 million in OECD countries in 2002, an average of about eight researchers per 1,000 employed persons. The highest rate of researcher employment was in Finland, with 17, and the lowest in Turkey and Mexico, one.The OECD separates post-secondary or tertiary education into two subgroups: type A theoretical knowledge and type B occupational training. In Canada, Japan, Korea, and non-OECD member Russia, some 45 percent of those 25 to 34 had a tertiary qualification in 2004, compared to less than 12 percent in non-OECD member Brazil, Turkey, and Mexico; 39 percent of US 25- to 34-year olds had a tertiary qualification in 2004. Average expenditures per tertiary student per year averaged $11,250 in 2003; France and Germany spent about the average, while in the US spending averaged $24,100.Almost eight percent of teens were not employed or in school in 2004. The highest share of 15-19 year olds who are inactive is in Turkey, affecting 25 percent of boys and 47 percent of girls, followed by Mexico, eight percent of men and 26 percent of women. Mexico and Turkey have the most unequal income distributions, 48 and 44 in 2003 on a scale where 0 is equality and 1 is inequality-the average in OECD countries is 31, and 36 in the US.
