The joint investigation, conducted by Lighthouse Reports in collaboration with the FT, El País, and Unbias the News, reveals that most European countries are falling short in providing favorable job prospects for highly educated migrants, potentially impacting their labor pools and economies significantly.
The findings, which are based on data from the EU’s labour force survey between 2017 and 2022, show that nearly half of all migrants with degrees work in roles they are overqualified for, compared with less than a third of natives. Despite widespread demand for highly skilled migrant labour, migrants with degrees are also unemployed at nearly double the rate of natives.
The investigation found that on average, European migrant graduates earn €2,000 less each year than native graduates with similar degrees and characteristics. Excluding the UK, Germany and Nordic economies — for which data is not available — this amounts to €10.7bn in lost wages, or 0.12 per cent of the countries’ combined GDP.
Read more: FT: The ‘brain waste’ of skilled migrants in Europe