Germany is the 2nd top migration destination of choice -- after US

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  68 percent of migrants in Germany are in active employment, says the OECD (Photo: Paolo Margari)
  
  EUOBSERVER 
  
  

01.12.14 @ 18:11   By Nikolaj Nielsen

BRUSSELS - More migrants are heading to Germany than any other wealthy country except the US, according to the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
An OECD report out Monday (1 December) says Germany recorded a double-digit increase in the number of migrants in 2013 and its fourth consecutive annual rise.

Some 450,000 people migrated to Germany last year. Of those, around three quarters come from other EU member states. Germany is also in pole position in terms of accepting the most Syrian refugees with 110,000 asylum claims, followed by the United States, France, Sweden, and Turkey.

...The OECD report is a cross comparative analysis of immigration trends in the 34 nations that make up the Paris-based club.  It found migration flows are once again on the rise after the slowdown associated with the global financial crisis. But at the same time, it noted a 40 percent drop in the number of non-EU migrants arriving in the EU between 2007 and 2012.  Most of the EU-based labour migration declines were registered in Italy, Portugal, and Spain.

“As a result, legal permanent migration flows from third countries into Europe are now for the first time lower than similar flows to the United States,” OECD secretary-general Angel Gurria told reporters. He said gender and education levels of migrants are rapidly changing when compared to previous studies. Most now tend to be women, well-educated, and over-qualified for the jobs they land in the hosting nations.

“Migrants are an asset, not a liability. Migrants are a resource, not a problem,” he said. Around 115 million migrants live in OECD nations. One in 10 is from China and one in five from Asia.

Gurria said the overall fiscal impact of immigration in most of the countries is positive, noting that more migrants are needed to meet labour demands.

...Speaking alongside Gurria, European migration commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos said the Brussels-executive is working on launching a new migration policy initiative.  The number of arrivals in the UK has progressively decreased over the years. ... The issue ... has become politically toxic in some countries. “We need to change the narrative of migration, we need to show its positive impacts,” he said. “In the case of the UK, I believe it is net positive.”

Hier zum Thema kommt ein Udo Lindenberg Lied "Er wollte nach Deutschland", das Sebastian Krumbiegel uns hier vorspielt  (More on this theme is the Lindenberg song: "Er wanted to get to Germany," as performed by lead singer of the a cappella band from Leipzig, Die Prinzen, Sebastian Krumbiegel) :



Jetzt weiß ich, was für ein begabter Klavierspieler der Krumbiegel ist (wenn hier auch vielleicht etwas zu laut, aber ich möchte nicht kritisieren!).  Er singt auch mit den Prinzen aus Leipzig, und besucht uns hier in den USA durch das Goethe-Institut.