It is been alleged that a Paris-based club of wealthy states has warned that migrant workers face exclusion as the global slump drives unemployment to the highest levels in 50 years.
In its annual report on international migration, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) noted that, while governments have begun taking measures to protect their native workforce, migrant workers are more exposed to unemployment, discrimination and xenophobia.
OECD secretary general Angel Gurria wrote: "Migration is not a tap that can be turned on and off at will.
"In tackling the jobs crisis, governments need to make sure that immigrants do not fall prey to increasing xenophobia and that discriminatory practices do not worsen an already difficult situation for them."
The slump has hit immigrants particularly hard, the report observed, because they are over-represented in the very sectors of the economy - construction, manufacturing and retail - that have been hardest hit by the crisis.
The OECD advised governments to invest more in immigrant integration programmes and reinforce their efforts against discrimination.
