In 2015, Germany welcomed hundreds of thousands of refugees. Ten years later, most of them have jobs, a recent study shows. Among them, women are the most out of the labor market.
Ten years after Germany took in many refugees, great progress has been made in integrating this group into the labor market. The employment rate of these people has "largely approached the German average," the Institute for Labor Market and Occupational Research found. The data show that last year 64 percent of people between the ages of 15 and retirement age who arrived in 2015 had a job. On average, the quota for the German population is slightly higher - 70 percent, ARD points out.
The head of the study, Herbert Brücker, points out that "this is by no means self-evident", given the unfavorable starting conditions.
Difficult starting conditions
In 2015, people did not come looking for work, but fled, the co-author of the study, Yulia Kosyakova, told ARD. “Therefore, they were initially unprepared for their integration into the labor market - both linguistically and institutionally.”
”Many of them had suffered from the consequences of war and persecution, had little information, hardly used social networks and often had qualifications that could not be easily recognized.”
The potential of refugee women
The employment rate for men is 76 percent, the study shows, while for women it is only 35 percent. Among the population as a whole, the employment rates are 72 percent for men and 69 percent for women. In addition, refugee women work mainly part-time.
Therefore, researchers believe that the great potential for refugees to take up jobs lies with women, as Kosyakova points out.
However, they face a serious obstacle - often insufficient access to childcare. In addition, refugee women, unlike men, often have lower education and are in worse health. Added to this is the fact that they often joined integration courses much later.
Large income differences
The study shows that there is a significant gap between the income of refugees and the income of the population as a whole. The average income of full-time employed refugees increased from 1,398 euros per month in 2016 to 2,675 euros in 2023. But this is still only 71 percent of this indicator for the population as a whole.
Interpreting the data, the researchers point out that many of the refugees were still young and at the beginning of their professional careers. At the same time, the numbers show how important qualification measures, recognition of professional skills and targeted vocational training are for achieving “sustainable integration into the labor market and career development prospects”.
The obstacles: xenophobia and bureaucracy
The study also makes it clear that there are a number of bureaucratic obstacles to quickly starting work. “The lengthy asylum procedures, the long stay in communal housing, the benefits and payment cards provided, the restrictions on residence. Added to this is the slow process of family reunification," Kosyakova points out.
Another conclusion of the study is that the greater the hostility towards foreigners in a certain region, the more difficult it is for refugees to find work. "Our research shows that people who feel welcome find work faster," Kosyakova explains. This relationship has been proven unambiguously statistically.
The role of language skills is also key. "Both general and profession-related language courses have a positive impact on starting a job." The same applies to career counseling and targeted qualification measures. However, factors such as physical and mental health are also important, notes the ARD.