(The Struggle for) Refugee Integration into the Labour Market: Evidence from Europe

57 Pages Posted: 5 Jun 2018

See all articles by Francesco Fasani

Francesco Fasani

Spanish Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) - Insitute for Economic Analysis

Tommaso Frattini

University of Milan - Centro Studi Luca d'Agliano (LdA); University of Milan - Department of Economics, Business and Statistics

Luigi Minale

Charles III University of Madrid

Date Written: February 2018

Abstract

In this paper, we use repeated cross-sectional survey data to study the labour market performance of refugees across several EU countries and over time. In the first part, we document that labour market outcomes for refugees are consistently worse than those for other comparable migrants. The gap remains sizeable even after controlling for individual characteristics as well as for unobservables using a rich set of fixed effects and interactions between area of origin, entry cohort and destination country. Refugees are 11.6 percent less likely to have a job and 22.1 percent more likely to be unemployed than migrants with similar characteristics. Moreover, their income, occupational quality and labour market participation are also relatively weaker. This gap persists until about 10 years after immigration. In the second part, we assess the role of asylum policies in explaining the observed refugee gap. We conduct a difference-in-differences analysis that exploits the differential timing of dispersal policy enactment across European countries: we show that refugee cohorts exposed to these polices have persistently worse labour market outcomes. Further, we find that entry cohorts admitted when refugee status recognition rates are relatively high integrate better into the host country labour market.

Keywords: asylum seekers; assimilation; refugee gap; asylum policies

JEL Classification: F22; J61; J15

Suggested Citation

Fasani, Francesco and Frattini, Tommaso and Minale, Luigi, (The Struggle for) Refugee Integration into the Labour Market: Evidence from Europe (February 2018). Centro Studi Luca d'Agliano Development Studies Working Paper No. 435, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3180206 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3180206

Francesco Fasani

Spanish Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) - Insitute for Economic Analysis ( email )

Campus de la UAB
Bellaterra, Barcelona 08193
Spain

Tommaso Frattini (Contact Author)

University of Milan - Centro Studi Luca d'Agliano (LdA) ( email )

Via P. Amedeo 34
Milano, Mi 20122
Italy

University of Milan - Department of Economics, Business and Statistics ( email )

Via Festa del Perdono, 7
Milan, 20122
Italy

Luigi Minale

Charles III University of Madrid ( email )

CL. de Madrid 126
Madrid, 28903
Spain

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