Refugees’ Integration in the German Labour Market: The effects of migration and integration policies
Creators: name: N Meawad
Publisher: name: figshare
Year: 2021
Subjects: subject: 160303 Migration
subject: FOS: Sociology
subject: FOS: Sociology

description: Faced with the refugee crisis of 2015, many European countries found themselves forced to change their migration policies in order to control the inflow of people fleeing the humanitarian disaster that was the Syrian war. During this year, approximately 1.2 million registered refugees entered countries of the European Union, a third of which (362,800) consisted of Syrians (Eurostat, 2016). Although the dire situation made changes in migration policy almost inevitable, the reactions of European countries ranged on a spectrum from liberal approaches to immigration and celebrations of cultural diversity, to more restrictive policies aimed at reducing the inflow of refugees to an absolute minimum. The Federal Republic of Germany constituted a primary location for refugees, with asylum applicants in this country alone accounting for a third of all refugees in Europe in 2015 (Pew Research Centre, 2016). The initial German response, though not uncriticized, was one of confidence. Merkel’s now legendary phrase, <i>Wir schaffen das<b>[1]</b>,</i> reflected the conviction that Germany was able to face this challenge, as well as a sense of responsibility to do so. Even though migrants in the country faced xenophobic sentiments, an impressive amount of the population proved ready to lend a helping hand to the newly arrived migrants through voluntary activities such as charity work and monetary donations. A New York Times article spoke highly of the welcoming attitude of the German population, stating that refugees were met with “bowls of steaming soup and bread rolls, working bathrooms and an efficient bureaucracy to move them to temporary housing and, possibly, legal immigration status”[2]. A study published by Amnesty International (2016) placed Germany second highest on their Refugees Welcome Index, with 84% of respondents stating that they would accept refugees into their neighbourhood or home. The aim of this paper is to discuss the process of migration and integration that refugees have had to go through when migrating to Germany, as well as the background processes that underly these policies. Firstly, an introductory overview will be presented of migration to Germany, allowing us to place the refugee crisis in a broader migratory context. After this, the German reaction to the refugee crisis will be discussed. An overview will be presented of important decisions taken by the German government with regard to refugees, as these directly influence the number of refugees in the country and, subsequently, the measures taken by the government to integrate them into German society. Thirdly, the integration of refugees on the German labor market will be discussed. This will be achieved through a discussion of several empirical studies, which will be compared to each other. Lastly, a concluding chapter will be devoted to answering our research question: <i>To what extent migration and integration policies affect refugees' integration in the labour market. </i>Through applying Human capital theory, as a theoretical framework of human capital characteristics determine individual’s migration’s decisions. In the focus of the migration is an investment in the human resources we will perform how the human capital characteristics can help in more integrating in the labour market and by investing in these characteristics, the countries may reach a higher rate in GDP. <br> [1] <i>Wir schaffen das </i>is a German phrase, which means “we make it”. [2] New York Times. 2015. <i>As Germany Welcomes Migrants, Some Wonder How to Make Acceptance Last. </i> https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/06/world/europe/germany-welcomes-migrants-and-refugees.html Retrieved on 25 March, 2021