Asylum-seekers and refugees within Europe and labour market integration

Abstract

This special issue seeks to investigate and understand the various experiences of asylum-seekers, beneficiaries of subsidiary protection and refugees in accessing labour markets across the EU and EEA countries. The first section of this introduction provides an overview of the three groups of people who are the focus of this special issue and their relationship to the labour markets in the EU Member States and EEA countries. The second section provides insights into how the essential features of their labour market integration may be understood by using Levitas’ discourse analysis. The third section explores a range of different labour market access dimensions by focusing not only on the human capital aspects of migration in general but also on the contextual factors of civic stratification; the broader societal context, including public opinion and civil society; the background and situation of earlier migrants, especially asylum-seekers and refugees with respect to national/federal laws; and the countries of origin of migrants as well as demographic trends across the EU. The fourth and final section explains and justifies the focus of this special issue and emphasises the relevance of this topic.

‘Some Refugees Move because the Health Facilities in the Settlement are not Good’: A Qualitative Study of Factors Influencing Movement of Somali Refugees from Nakivale Settlement to Kampala City

“…According to the Doyal and Gough's theory, physical security ensures survivability-a thing most longed for by refugees. Different scholars elsewhere have documented similar ndings among refugee populations (30,31).…”

How should the government treat asylum seekers? The role of labour market vulnerability and migration in Europe

“…Although proximity could also conceivably heighten resource competition, we draw from research suggesting that direct labour market competition between vulnerable native-born individuals and migrants is less of an issue than might be assumed (Pardos-Prado, 2020). Indeed, this argument seems especially applicable to asylum seekers, given the added hurdles to labour market access that they tend to face (see, for example, Schenner & Neergaard, 2019). Instead, we argue that: (a) more abstract concerns about the broad fiscal effects of asylum seeking are key (e.g.…”

“…After accounting for national-level variation, we find that labour market vulnerability only has a discernible effect when exposure to ethnic minorities is low -thus reflecting past work suggesting that increased exposure to minorities can reduce anti-asylum seeker sentiments (e.g., Crawley et al, 2019). To the extent that individuals in homogenous areas are less likely to be competing with migrants for jobs than individuals in more diverse areas, this suggests that direct labour market competition is not the relevant mechanism (see Pardos-Prado 2020) -a finding that is in a sense unsurprising given the barriers to labour market access that asylum seekers often face (see, for example, Schenner & Neergaard, 2019). Instead, as we argued above, it is more likely that abstract concerns about resource competition, for example with regard to social services and the welfare state, are driving the relationship.…”

Barreiras ao emprego de refugiados no Brasil e seus impactos na integração de longo prazo

“…Esses achados, ao revelarem diferentes sentimentos vividos pelos refugiados que experimentam a sensação de não fazerem aquilo que gostariam, estão condizentes com a literatura, mostrando que, independentemente da qualificação e experiência de pessoas em situação de refúgio, a maioria tende a não seguir suas carreiras na nova realidade (JAMIL et al, 2012), além de estar suscetível ao subemprego (BABAN; ILCAN; RYGIEL, 2017;EGGENHOFER-REHART et al, 2018;SCHENNER;NEERGAARD, 2019). Observando as informações do Quadro 1, constata-se que nem um dos entrevistados que possui nível superior exerce, de fato, sua função nas empresas brasileiras investigadas, o que sugere a necessidade de maior flexibilização nas legislações específicas que permitam o reconhecimento de diplomas estrangeiros e facilitem o pleno exercício de carreira de cada indivíduo de acordo com suas capacidades.…”