Recession vulnerable migrant workers in Europe should be protected by host countries who need them to plug underlying labour gaps in their ageing population, the OECD said in a report published on Monday.
Priority should be given to help early access to the labour market for newly arrived migrants, and to support children of immigrants find jobs through individual mentoring, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development said.
Among the protective measures it suggested were lower taxes for low-skilled jobs and possibly subsidies, a better recognition of foreign diploma and professional experience, as well as employing more migrants in the public sector.
The report highlighted that migrants in Europe suffered higher unemployment levels than native-born workers and were often paid less when they did find work.
In tougher economic times migrants also tend to fare less well, the OECD noting they were often employed in less stable, more cyclical sectors such as construction.
"The economic downturn makes it all the more urgent to take care of immigrants ... because experience shows that they are the most vulnerable in times of economic crisis," Martine Durand, from the OECD, told a news conference.
Mr Durand said that immigration was unlikely to go down because the situation in migrants home countries would also be very tough and added that, without migration, population and standard of living would fall in OECD countries.
The International Labour Organisation has forecast 20 million jobs worldwide will disappear by the end of next year.
Lower education, discrimination, the tax system and poor recognition of qualifications hampered migrants' access to labour markets, showed the study, based on the situation in France, The Netherlands, Portugal and Belgium.
"In all four countries and for both genders, the unemployment rate of immigrants is significantly higher than that of the native-born," the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development said, adding that this was the case in most of the organisation's 30 member countries.