What good is a job, if people are not staying on for the long term? Economic development is a preferred tool in the toolbox of mitigating migration. Struggling with the amount of migrants from Africa to Europe and the enormous rates of internally displaces persons have lead policy makers in the European Union (EU) to believe that economic measures are key to keep people from the dangerous trip overseas. Yet creating sustainable employment faces some difficult challenges.

Migration decisions are complex, says Charles Martin Shields, researcher at German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE). That is why the European Investment Bank (EIB) has to think beyond just providing jobs to give potential migrants from Ethiopia and other African countries perspectives to stay in their home country.

Learn more in his opinion piece Going beyond just “Jobs, Jobs, Jobs” at DIE’s International Development Blog.