Well-Being of Migrant Children and Youth in Europe Some responses to the Comments Kenneth Harttgen

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Well-Being of Migrant Children and Youth in Europe

Some responses to the CommentsKenneth HarttgenStephan Klasen

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Some general issues• Why focus on Europe?

– „new“ issue (compared to traditional immigration countries); but can learn from the research there;

– large research and data gaps– Beginning of a vibrant debate

• Age issue?– Clearly an omission but hard to tackle comprehensively (in a single

paper);• Who is covered?

– Education migration – Mixed ethnicity– Second generation– Highly skilled– Time dimension (migration process, second generation)

• Methodological approach:– Mostly empirical, largely from economics;– Misses many important insights (child development literature,

psychology, etc.)

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Approaches to Study Effects• Empirical approach

– Well-being of children indicators, disaggregated by migration status

– Example: UNICEF Report Card 7– Problems:

• Under-theorized• Unclear choice of indicators and evaluation• Which dimensions of well-being really matter• Means versus ends issue• Lack of a dynamic perspective;

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UNICEF (2007) Dimension of well-being

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Approaches to Study Child Well-Being

• Means versus ends issue quite critical, including assessments of trade-offs and win-win situations (e.g. bi-lingual education);

• Individual versus household-level indicators, subjective versus objective indcators (particularly important for migrant children);

• Capability approach vs. equality of opportunities (capability approach possibly more far-reaching, but e of o. quite appealing) vs. rights-based approaches (e.g. CRC) vs. Social exclusion;

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Data and Measurement Issues• Good at everything to do with wages, employment, and

education; much less on health, subjective well-being, developmental aspects (esp. linked to migration status and larger data sets);

• Some very promising data sets;• Nationality (language and even where born) a difficult

and heterogeneous concept (and partly endogenous);• Should we always care about selectivity of migrants?

– Yes, if we want to know whether migration ‚paid off‘, or what ‚true‘ remittence effect is;

– No, if we want to study migrants and how they fare in host country.

• Is endogeneity in case of (dependent) migrant children a problem?

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Data Sources: Children, Youth and Migration

– European Labour Force Survey (EU LFS) – Young Lives Project – Living Standard Measurement Survey (LSMS) – World Happiness Database – EU Satistics on Income and Living Conditions (Silc) – Child Labour Surveys (ILO) – Luxembourg Income Study (LIS) – Luxembourg Wealth Study (LWS) – Demopgraphic and Health Survey (DHS)– World Value Surveys – Health Behavour in school-aged children (HBSC) – ILO Labor Migration Survey– European Community Household Panel (ECHP)– Pisa Survey– European Social Survey (ESS)

Surveys that might serve as prototypes for future survey design and research directions:

– German Socio Economic Panel (GSOEP) combines quantitative and qualitative data (rich information on youth and migration youth questionniare with subjective well-being)

– Youth in Transition Survey (YITS) (Canada)– Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants (LSIC) and National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (Canada)– Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Australia (LSIA) and Longitudinal Survey of Australien Children (LSAC)

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Some interesting Papers• Straight-forward extension of empirical child well-being to migrant children

(modeled after UNICEF study);• Straigh-forward extension of empirical migrant assimilation studies to

broader well-being issues and ist determinants;• Well-being of migrant children: means versus ends; trade-offs and

synergies?• Subjective well-being of migrant children: what is the appropriate reference

group?• Education systems and well-being of migrant children: exploiting the

heterogeneity in Europe to study their effects;• Child well-being in Europe: does citizenship matter? (or more generally,

legal issues of treatment of migrants and their well-being impacts)• Any possibility to generate stylized facts about extreme heterogeneous

migrant experience? May cultural discontinuity important here?• Well-being effects of migrant process on children (by age groups?);• Best practise in terms of longitudinal data on migrant children:

questionnaires, sampling, dealing with heterogeneity.• How best to track migrants of different types in aggregate and micro data.

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Well-being of Migrant Children and Youth in Europe

Kenneth Harttgen and Stephan KlasenApril 24-26, 2008

Bellagio, Italy

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Children and youth affected by migration

Dependent migration Migrating with parents Born homeBorn abroad

Independent migration Migrating alone VoluntarilyFostered (e.g. for education)

Left behindFather migratesMother migratesBoth parents migrate

Forced migration Alone or with family members

TraffickingHuman Smuggling•Refugees

Second Generation Migrants Born in the host country

Citizenship of the host countryCitizenship of the home country

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Types of International Migration

Voluntary migrants Forced migrants

Labour migrants Refugees

Family reunification Asylum seekers

Foreign students Displaced persons

 Illegal (irregular) migrants Environmental migrants

  Trafficking

Source: Based on the categorization of international migrants proposed by thethe 2000 World Migration Report (IOM 1999, 2000); illustration by the authors.

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Dimensions and Indicators of human well-beingDimension of well-being Indicator

Material well-being Food

  Assets

  Work

Bodily well-being Beeing and appearing well

  Health

  Appearences

  Phyiscal environment

Social well-being Being able to care, bring up, marry and settle children

  Self-respect and dignity

  Peace, harmony, good relations in the familiy/community

Security Civil peace

  A physical safe and secure environment

  Personal physical security

  Lawfullness and accedd to justice

  Security in old age

  Confidence in future

Freedom of choice and action  

Psychological well-being Peace of mind

  Happiness

  Harmony (including religous observance) Source: Narayan et al. (2000).

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Risk of children and youth affected by Migration

Left behind Migrating with familyMigrating alone (whether forced

or voluntarily)

Less parental care Lack of schooling Lack of schooliing

Drug abuse Lack of health Lack of health

Lack of health Teenage pregnancy Drug abuse

Lack of schooliing Crime commitment Teenage pregnancy

Teenage pregnancy Incomplete citizenship rights Crime commitment

Psychological problems Difficult access to social services Absence of adult protection

Pressure to become labor migrant as part of transition to adulthood Social exclusion Risk of trafficking and exploitation

  Discrimination Social ecxlusion

When father migrates: Identiy Discrimination

Increased responsibility for women and children Psychological problems Identiy

Female headed households face higher risk of poverty Intergenerational tension Psychological problems

Household vulnerability Social exclusion Barriers (language, culture, race)

Material and psychological insecurity Barriers (language, culture, race) Lack of birth registration (stateless)

  Vulnerability Increased risk of vulnerability

When mother migrates: Poverty Increased risk of poverty

Greater Risk of dropping out of school

Abuse of children  

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Well-being Dimensions and Indicators of Migrant Children and Migrant YouthDimension Indicator

Employment / Unemployment Equal opportunities (migrants-natives; women-man)

  Employment status, Duration of unemployment

  Sector of Employment

  Subjective importance of work and job characteristics

Education Access to educational institutions

  Level of education, enrolment status

  Effectiveness of education (Pisa)

  Investment in education (household)

Standard of Living Housing characteristics

  Household structure (size, number of children)

  Income/expenditure, Assets (Poverty)

  Subjective importance of income

 Health Subjective and objective evaluation of health status

  Access to health system

  Health expenditures, healh prevention

  Health knowledge

Social cohesion Social security coverage

  Access to social services (insurances)

  Discrimination

  Social exclusion

  Household performance in educating and caring for children

Safety and crime Extent of criminality

  Structure of victims