Migration plays an important role in meeting skills demand around the world, according to the European Commissioner for home affairs.

Cecilia Malmstrom told a conference in Geneva that people are moving nation "more than ever before", with an estimated 215 million individuals living somewhere other than the country of their birth.

Addressing the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), she urged people to see migration as an asset and stated: "Globalization of businesses demands globalization of skills and mobility."

In her speech on the future of migration she pointed to Brazil, Russia, India and China as examples of nations that have benefited from labor mobility and urged jurisdictions to ensure they connect to the realities of global developments in order to prosper.

Recent Eurostat figures showed the unemployment rate remained steady across the European Union's 27 member states at 9.6 per cent during October 2010, compared with the previous month.

Posted by Alex Donnell