To study these inter-relationships in practice, this paper constructs and analyses two separate indices that measure: (i) the ‘openness’ of over 100 labour immigration programmes in 46 high- and middle-income countries to admitting migrant workers; and (ii) the legal rights (civil and political, economic, social, residency, and family reunion rights) granted to migrant workers after admission...Despite the increasing interest in measuring human rights (for a review see, for example, Carr Center for Human Rights 2005), there are also very few studies that systematically measure the scope and variation of the legal rights of different types of migrants across high-income countries. Notable exceptions include Waldrauch (2001) who constructs a “legal index” that measures the integration of migrants in six European countries and the more recent “Migrant Integration Policy Index” (MIPEX)... Specifically, MIPEX measures the extent to which each country’s policies conform to European directives and European standards of best practice in six areas: labour market access, family reunion, long-term residence, political participation, access to nationality and anti-discrimination. The migration policy indices developed by Lowell (2005), Cerna (2008) and Klugman and Pereira (2009) also include an evaluation of a small number of migrant rights...
Martin Ruhs, Oxford University: Openness, Skills and Rights
Thomas Huddleston
Policy Analyst, Migration Policy Group
Thomas Huddleston is a policy analyst at the Migration Policy Group, a European think-and-do-tank. He coordinates MPG’s research for European cooperation on national integration policies, including the second and third editions of the Migrant Integration Policy Index (MIPEX) (published in February 2011) and the third edition of the European Commission’s Handbook on Integration.
