Refugees in particular start with low employment rates, which rise comparatively slowly
Quelle: Getty Images/EMS-FORSTER-PRODUCTIONS
A wide-ranging study shows that migrants from non-European countries with a high proportion of refugees find it particularly difficult on the German labor market. Researchers call for a more forward-looking immigration policy.
WWhilst EU citizens often find work in this country and sometimes earn better than locals, migrants from non-European countries with a high proportion of refugees find it particularly difficult on the German labor market. Even if the children of immigrants have gone through the German education system, they are still disadvantaged.
Overall, labor market integration has deteriorated over the decades. These are the results of a study by the Mannheim Leibniz Center for European Economic Research (ZEW), which is exclusively available to WELT AM SONNTAG.
The scientists compared the integration processes of numerous migrant groups, from the so-called guest workers to people who came from Eastern Europe after the fall of the Iron Curtain to refugees and EU citizens from old and new member states. According to the analysis, since the first guest workers were recruited almost 70 years ago, Germany has become the second most important immigration country after the USA.
“Nevertheless, politics and society still struggle with this role,” says Paul Berbée, ZEW economist and co-author of the study. “The experiences of the guest worker cohorts show that even after many years in the host country, immigrants are still particularly hard hit by economic upheavals and unemployment,” says Berbée.
He criticizes: Despite the “essential contribution” of migrants “to economic prosperity”, it took many decades for politicians and the public to recognize that Germany is an immigration country. Immigration policy was late on the political agenda.
In concrete terms, for example, immigrants from the EU-15 countries – i.e. without the most recent eastern enlargements – are on average employed just as often as natives of a comparable age. Migrants from other countries, on the other hand, are on average almost 40 percentage points less likely to be employed upon arrival, but catch up significantly within the first ten years.
Asylum compromise – “We come to different conclusions when it comes to how we measure it”
Shortly before the small party conference of the Greens, the party’s dispute over Germany’s approval of the EU asylum compromise escalated. There are advances and advances due to the asylum reform, according to Omid Nouripour to WELT. Ricarda Lang, on the other hand, says Germany should not have approved the reform proposal.
Refugees in particular start with low employment rates, which rise comparatively slowly. Only after 20 years do they reach those of migrants from non-EU countries. The long-term comparison also shows that over the past 50 years, the labor market opportunities for immigrants have worsened compared to natives. The corresponding employment rates fell by around eleven percentage points.
“A forward-looking integration and immigration policy is more important than ever,” says Berbée. Straight Ukrainian refugees have great potential that could be better exploited. It is true that their level of education is above average, as an analysis by the Institute for Labor Market and Occupational Research shows.
Promote integration through appropriate measures
But of around 660,000 Ukrainian war refugees of working age, only around twelve percent are currently in work. In order to use the potential, conditions must be created, the researchers write, in particular childcare services.
Berbée also provides recommendations for action in his analysis: “Politics are called upon to promote integration through appropriate measures.”
On the one hand, the education system must offer the children of immigrants equal opportunities so that disadvantages on the job market do not perpetuate generations. On the other hand, access to the labor market for people with foreign educational qualifications must be made much easier. “The new Skilled Immigration Act is an important step in this direction,” says the economist.
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