The first part of the 2004 report Trends in International Migration is divided into three sections describing the principal developments observed in 2002-2003. The first of these sections looks at changes in migration movements and in the foreign population in OECD member countries (I.A); the second focuses on the status of immigrants in the labour market (I.B), while the third provides an overview of migration policies (I.C)...

Since the end of the 1990s, issues related to international migration, and more particularly to the international mobility of highly-qualified workers, are receiving increasing attention from policy-makers. This reflects among others the increasing international movements that have been taking place following the fall of the Iron Curtain and in conjunction with the growing globalisation of economic activity. In addition, demographic imbalances between developed and developing countries and large differences in wages have tended to encourage the movements of workers from economies where they are in surplus to those where they are most in need. Moreover, many OECD countries have been attempting to attract qualified human resources from abroad, which their increasingly knowledge-intensive economies need in order to sustain economic growth. Despite these increased movements and the heightened policy interest in this area, however, the quality and comparability of international data on migration have scarcely kept pace...

The Australian economy grew by 2.7% in 2002/03, after increasing by 3.8% in 2001/02. The unemployment rate declined slightly to just over 6% and has since continued to decrease (5.8% as of September 2003). The Australian economy is forecast to grow by over 3% in 2003/04. Unemployment and inflation are expected to remain around current levels. State-specific and regional migration continues to be a priority for Australia, with particular emphasis on skilled migration. The 2002/03 Migration Programme was not only the largest in over a decade, with the largest family migration since 1995/96, but also the most highly skilled ever, allowing approximately 108 000 migrants to enter Australia. In addition, approximately 12 500 migrants arrived in Australia on humanitarian grounds in 2002/03...

Most of the data published in this annex are taken from the individual contributions of national correspondents appointed by the OECD Secretariat with the approval of the authorities of member countries. Consequently, these data have not necessarily been harmonised at international level. This network of correspondents, constituting the Continuous Reporting System on Migration (SOPEMI), covers most OECD member countries as well as the Baltic States, Bulgaria and Romania. SOPEMI has no authority to impose changes in data collection procedures. It has an observatory role which, by its very nature, has to use existing statistics. However, it does play an active role in suggesting what it considers to be essential improvements in data collection and makes every effort to present consistent and well-documented statistics...