Immigrants in OECD nations hit by economic crisis: report

Immigrants in OECD nations have been badly hit by the economic crisis especially in vulnerable states such as Ireland, Spain and Italy, AFP says citing a report. The report, entitled "Settling in: OECD indicators of immigrant integration in 2012," said the average rate of unemployment among immigrants in the industrialised club of nations had risen to 11.9 percent in 2010, a 2.7 point rise over the past decade. The corresponding increase for locals was almost a third less at one percentage point, it said. Referring to Iceland, Ireland, Spain and Italy, the report said: "These countries also had significant recent labour migration, often in cyclical sectors and low-skilled occupations, which tend to be particularly hit hard by declining labour market conditions during a downturn." It said the number of immigrants had increased by a third over a decade with "approximately 110 million foreign-born persons living in the OECD countries in 2009-10, representing 9 percent of the total population." Only Estonia and Israel were the exceptions, it said. "The increase has been especially spectacular in Spain, where the foreign-born share of the population trebled. At the end of the period, Spain had over 6.5 million immigrants," the report said.