Publication Advisory Report ‘Balanced labour migration. Targeted labour migration policy for general well-being’

The Dutch Advisory Council on Migration presents the report: Balanced Labour Migration – Targeted Labour Migration Policy for General Well-Being.  This is a translation of our report Afgewogen Arbeidsmigratie -  Gericht Arbeidsmigratiebeleid voor brede welvaart, which was published in Dutch at the end of 2024.

In this report, the Dutch Advisory Council on Migration advocates for a balanced labour migration policy that takes economic, ecological and societal interests into account. While the report is aimed at the Netherlands, its analysis and ideas can also inform debates in other countries on national labour migration policy, or the design of labour migration policy at EU level.

Summary of the advisory report

The Dutch Advisory Council on Migration calls for a Dutch labour migration policy that is not based solely on economic interests but also considers societal and ecological consequences – in other words, general well-being. We show how general well-being can be defined as an objective of labour migration policy, and what this could look like in practice across three areas:

1. Setting numerical ranges for the number of labour migrants to the Netherlands.
2. Assessing applications for Dutch work-related residence permits for people from outside the EU (direct labour migration policy).
3. Integrating the labour migration perspective into other policy areas, such as economic and labour market policy (indirect labour migration policy).

We argue that a new advisory committee is needed to anchor Dutch labour migration policy within a general well-being framework. This committee should consist of experts and include broad representation from society. The United Kingdom (UK) and Canada offer useful examples.

In this report, the Dutch Advisory Council on Migration does not present ready-made recipes for future labour migration policy. Instead, by making the concept of ‘general well-being’ concrete, it aims to inform public and policy debate.