# **Appendix B: Data**

The data used in this analysis are taken from the BNLA, which is designed to trace the settlement journey of humanitarian migrants from their early months in Australia to their eligibility for citizenship. This is the largest survey of humanitarian migrants in Australia, and one of the largest studies of its type in the world (Edwards et al., 2018).<sup>16</sup> The first wave of data collection was undertaken between October 2013 and March 2014, and additional waves have been conducted annually using face-to-face interviews (in waves 1, 3 and 5) and telephone interviews (in waves 2 and 4). To be eligible for the study, participants had to have arrived in Australia in the three to six months preceding the start of wave 1 fieldwork and already be holding a permanent protection visa (the ‘offshore’ group), or to have been granted a permanent protection visa in the previous three to six months after their arrival in Australia by boat or on another visa type (the ‘onshore’ group). A total of 1,509 Principal Applicants, 755 adult Secondary Applicants and 135 adolescent Secondary Applicants (aged 15 to 17 years) were recruited to wave 1, yielding 2,399 participants in total. Figure B1 shows that refugees in the BNLA survey came from 16 countries with the highest share from Iraq (40%), followed by Afghanistan (26%), and the Islamic Republic of Iran (12%) _._ The attrition rate in BNLA is relatively lower than that in other surveys in Australia (Flatau et al., 2015). Among wave 1, 2,009 respondents (84%) were re-interviewed in wave 2, 1,894 (79%) in wave 3; 1,929 (80%) in wave 4, and 1,881 (78%) in wave 5.

A unique feature of this study is that it covers a wide range of topics including housing, English language proficiency, employment, financial circumstances, immigration experience and experiences of trauma and health, with additional information collected about children’s settlement experiences at wave 3. In terms of labor market outcomes, the survey provides rich information on current employment status and employment characteristics, experience of unemployment and income and government benefits received, among others. We use two measures of labor market outcomes available from the BNLA: (i) employment status conditional on being in the labor force (equal to one if having a paid job in the last seven days; and zero if not); and (ii) weekly labor income (measured by total real income of all jobs). In the additional analysis, we also examine other labor market outcomes (LFP, employment type, and job occupation) and life outcomes (life satisfaction, child mental health and school performance).

Information on health status of refugees includes self-rated health, injury or disability, life stressors and coping, and mental health. Our analysis is focused on the mental health of refugees measured by the six-item Kessler Screening Scale for Psychological Distress (K6). The K6 was developed by Kessler et al. (2002) and has been used widely in the economic literature for measuring non-specific psychological distress (e.g., Andersen, 2015; Gong et al., 2020). The six items ask individuals how often, during the past four weeks preceding the survey, an individual felt: (1) nervous, (2) hopeless, (3) restless or fidgety, (4) so depressed that nothing could cheer me up, (5) everything was an effort, and (6) life is meaningless (worthless). Respondents can choose among the following: all the time, most of the time, some of the time, little of the time, or none of the time. The answers are then scored on a five-point

> 16 Most studies examining labor market outcomes in Australia use a small sample of refugees. For example, Correa-Velez et al. (2015) use a sample of 233 refugees and find that length of time in Australia and informal networks, among others, were significant predictors of employment. Focusing on refugees living in Sydney, Waxman (2001) shows that those who had pre-immigration paid job experience, completed study/job training and better job searching knowledge/language skills are more likely to participate in the labor force. Newman et al. (2018) find correlation between social support and psychological well-being using a sample of 190 refugees in Melbourne.

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