Migration in Europe and Austria. A Comparison of Education Structures

The traditional immigration countries such as the USA, Canada or Australia have higher shares of high-skill migrants with a tertiary education than do European ones, and Austria ranks last among EU countries. The differences in the education structure can be explained not just from structural differences in the home countries but are greatly dependent on the timing and age of migrants. Moreover, highly skilled migrants have much lower employment rates than highly skilled domestic workers and they tend to be overqualified when employed. This points at substantial problems in the transfer to the host country of skills obtained at home.