This event hosted by MPI Europe and the Research Unit of the Expert Council of German Foundations on Integration and Migration featured a discussion of research into legal migration pathways for work and training for low- and middle-skilled migrants.

Amid ongoing debates about the costs and benefits of free movement, this MPI Europe webchat examines big-picture trends of East-West migration; considers possible policy responses at regional, national, and EU levels to alleviate some of the challenges; and reflects on realistic actions that could be taken under the incoming European Commission.

In fiscal year 2018, the U.S. State Department issued 9 million temporary visas, a 7 percent decrease from the previous year. Temporary visa issuance has been declining in recent years, and the Trump administration’s immigration priorities may help explain this trend. This Spotlight explores visa issuance and admission, and highlights key demographic information on visitors for pleasure and business, temporary workers, and foreign students.

Nearly 2.5 million Chinese immigrants lived in the United States in 2018—the third largest foreign-born population in the country. Chinese immigration has grown nearly seven-fold since 1980, and China became the top sending country of immigrants in the United States in 2018, replacing Mexico. Chinese immigrants tend to be highly educated and employed in management positions, as this Spotlight article explores.

While low-skilled workers generally have limited opportunities to legally migrate to the European Union, seasonal migration forms an important exception. This MPI Europe-SVR webinar explores lessons from Europe on managing seasonal worker programs that are responsive to labor market needs but also prioritize the well-being of seasonal workers and interests of receiving countries. 

Japan is hoping to bring in as many as 350,000 medium-skilled foreign workers over five years to fill labor market gaps in its rapidly aging society. Yet does this system of Specified Skilled Workers represent an effort to secure a workforce without making long-term settlement possible? And considering its linkage to a Technical Intern Training Program much criticized for abusive practices, does this change represent real reform? This article examines these and other issues.

This event will feature a screening of the short documentary The Fields of Immokalee, and include a discussion on immigration and politics in Florida and other swing states in the run-up to the 2020 election. 

As governments have reacted to the coronavirus pandemic by closing borders, seasonal workers have been kept out, raising a pressing question: who is going to produce the food amid agricultural labor shortages? Policymakers in the Asia Pacific, Europe, and North America have responded by seeking to recruit residents, lengthen stays for already present seasonal workers, and find ways to continue admitting foreign seasonal labor, as this commentary explores.

Border closures and lockdowns amid the COVID-19 pandemic have put a chill on intra-EU labor mobility, most immediately with the difficulty for European farmers to gain access to much-needed seasonal workers and for health-care institutions to get care workers. This article explores how these workers, who often face difficult situations, may be more vulnerable now. It also takes on implications for intra-EU labor mobility post-pandemic.

For children in U.S. homes where a language other than English is spoken, early childhood programs that are responsive to their needs can be key to later academic success. But as states refine their Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (QRIS) to assess such programs, immigrant early childhood workers with in-demand language and cultural skills may be left behind. This report examines the challenges these workers face and promising practices to serve diverse communities.

Enactment of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) in 2015 introduced opportunities to use federal funds to strengthen the early childhood education and care (ECEC) workforce as a means of better meeting the needs of the growing and increasingly diverse young child population.

Economists project a shortage of 5 million U.S. workers with postsecondary education and training by 2020. Yet 2 million immigrant college graduates in the United States are either unemployed or work in jobs that require no more than a high school degree. How can this skill underutilization, known as "brain waste," be remedied? MPI asked the experts, and this report summarizes their discussion and recommendations.

The Houston metro area, home to 1.6 million immigrants, is diverse and rapidly growing. This report sketches the area's immigrant population, examining top origin countries, key socioeconomic measures, and more. It also explores how Hurricane Harvey affected the immigrant population, and how national policy changes under the Trump administration are being felt locally, including by DACA recipients and asylum seekers.

This webinar discusses the first-ever profile of the 30 million immigrant-origin adults in the United States who lack a postsecondary credential such as a college degree, apprenticeship certificate, or occupational license. The researchers discuss their findings and policy implications with leading experts.

U.S. debates about immigration from Mexico often center on the low skilled, but this analysis shows a population in change. Nearly one in five Mexican immigrants arriving between 2013-17 had a college degree, compared to slightly more than 1 in 20 during the 1996-2000 period. Mexicans now make up the fourth-largest group of highly skilled immigrants. This fact sheet explores their characteristics at U.S. and Texas levels.

Neurons in the hippocampus categorize what we experience into abstract, discrete events, such as taking a walk versus having lunch

-- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com

Researchers studying yellow warbler responses to the parasitic cowbird realized that red-winged blackbirds were eavesdropping on the calls and reacting to them, too.

-- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com

New research in mice suggests that a pregnancy hormone contributes to brain and behavioral changes caused by childhood adversity

-- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com

Alzheimer’s took my wife’s memory and her life and tortured our family. There was nothing we—or medicine—could do to stop it 

-- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com

It is time for a fresh approach to the illness

-- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com

Some nominally high-risk individuals may have a lower chance of developing dementia than once thought

-- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com

Fresh approaches and hopeful clues in the search for novel therapies

-- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com

Originally published in June 1899

-- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com

Painted images of intriguing human-animal hybrids are signs of modern thought

-- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com

Cognitive-behavioral therapy improved both symptoms and markers of senescence in people with anxiety

-- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com

“Conversational receptiveness” can be learned

-- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com

Research into the brain’s protein-disposal systems, electrical activity and three other areas looks promising

-- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com

Health journalist Judy Foreman talks about her new book Exercise Is Medicine: How Physical Activity Boosts Health and Slows Aging.

-- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com

Resilience and strength can often be attained through unexpected routes

-- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com

One conversation could keep your kids safe

-- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com

Hero worship alone doesn’t protect frontline clinicians from distress

-- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com

Amyloid, the leading target for dementia therapy, faces skepticism after drug failures

-- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com

Exercise like walking, swimming, and even dancing have been shown to be good for your memory, but the optimal intensity of that exercise has been unclear... until now

-- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com

 The best way to have a good death is to live a good life

-- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com

Neither approach is ideal. The best option is to temper your negative emotions by focusing on positive ones

-- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com

Horses picked out photographs of their current keepers, and even of former keepers whom they had not seen in months, at a rate much better than chance.

-- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com

Being female is a risk factor for Alzheimer’s. Why?

-- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com

Rigorous new studies should be able to settle the matter

-- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com

They don’t stand on one leg around just anybody but often prefer certain members of the flock.

-- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com

What did you get your mother for Mother's Day? Was it beautifully thoughtful, or a rush job you fixed with a few clicks of the mouse and a credit card?

America is awash in secrets and conspiracies. Moviegoers are agog over the 2,000-year-old conspiracy theory in "The Da Vinci Code," which suggests that Jesus may not have died celibate. In a conspiracy exactly one order of magnitude smaller, Brad Meltzer's new novel, "The Book of Fate," tells about...

Melissa Hunfalvay feels Claudio Reyna's pain. Not the pain caused by the sprain in Reyna's knee -- an injury the captain of the defeated U.S. World Cup soccer team sustained last week while conceding a goal in an all-important match against Ghana.

When Warren Buffett announced last week that he will be giving away more than $30 billion to improve health, nutrition and education, people all over America reflected on his remarkable generosity, pondered all the noble things the gift would achieve and asked themselves what they would do if...

Jan Molinell lost $300,000 when Enron collapsed. A former Enron Corp. employee in Florida, Molinell closely followed the trials of Kenneth L. Lay and other Enron executives -- half-fearing that Lay's political ties to the White House would allow him to escape scot-free, and half-wondering whether an...

You don't have to be a sports fan to know that something extraordinary happened in the World Cup soccer final last week. Ten minutes from the climactic end -- with his country's hopes, the championship and his place in the history books at stake -- French captain Zinedine Zidane violently...

You could be forgiven for thinking the television images in the experiment were from 2006. They were really from 1982: Israeli forces were clashing with Arab militants in Lebanon. The world was watching, charges were flying, and the air was thick with grievance, hurt and outrage.

President Bush came to Washington promising to be a uniter, but public opinion polls show that apart from a burst of camaraderie after Sept. 11, 2001, America is more bitterly divided and partisan than ever.

So the bad news is that it is hot and sticky and muggy. Your skin makes tearing sounds when you get up from a plastic chair. On the Metro, you start to tell people apart by how they smell.

Office managers are under siege. They know that if they set the temperature to 74, they hear from the woman in human resources who says it is too cold. If they turn it up to 76, they hear from the man in marketing who wants to know why it is sweltering hot.

Both athletes were stars. Both faltered, then staged dramatic comebacks -- displaying the tenacity that separates heroes from also-rans. Both now face drug charges that could end their careers.