Literature review labour migration

Attracting and retaining migrants can have many benefits for the host country and its economy, for example to mitigate skills shortages. Regulating immigration may prevent several negative consequences of a shrinking and ageing population. However, research and policy often focus on the highly skilled or so-called knowledge migrants (kennismigranten) as a source of human capital, which can increase innovation and a country’s competitiveness. A group of labour migrants that receives significantly less attention from research and policy, are the medium-skilled migrant workers. Although it makes up a significant share of the migrant population, this group is rarely supported by specific migration policies.