Ethnic networks can foster the economic integration of refugees

Abstract

There is widespread concern in Europe and other refugee-receiving continents that living in an enclave of coethnics hinders refugees’ economic and social integration. Several European governments have adopted policies to geographically disperse refugees. While many theoretical arguments and descriptive studies analyze the impact of spatially concentrated ethnic networks on immigrant integration, there is limited causal evidence that sheds light on the efficacy of these policies. We provide evidence by studying the economic integration of refugees in Switzerland, where some refugees are assigned to live in a specific location upon arrival and, by law, are not permitted to relocate during the first 5 y. Leveraging this exogenous placement mechanism, we find that refugees assigned to locations with many conationals are more likely to enter the labor market. This benefit is most pronounced about 3 y after arrival and weakens somewhat with longer residency. In addition, we find that, among refugees employed by the same company, a high proportion share nationality, ethnicity, or language, which suggests that ethnic residential networks transmit information about employment opportunities. Together, these findings contribute to our understanding of the importance of ethnic networks for facilitating refugee integration, and they have implications for the design of refugee allocation policies.

From "guest workers" to EU migrants: A gendered view on the labour market integration of different arrival cohorts in Germany

“…Additionally, migrants' ethnic networks and their contacts to members of the native population have been found to affect their likelihood of entering the labour market, and of realising returns appropriate to their human capital. It has been shown that especially among low-skilled migrants, ethnic networks do little to enhance the transition into the "regular labour market" (see, however, Martén et al 2019), which would provide more scope for upward mobility than jobs in the ethnic economy. There is, moreover, ample evidence that migrants are more likely to be integrated into the labour market if they have access to inter-ethnic networks (Kalter & Kogan 2014;Lancee & Hartung 2012;Heizmann & Böhnke 2016;Kanas et al 2011).…”

Refugee Integration in Canada, Europe, and the United States: Perspectives from Research

“…They recommended reducing waiting times, which would lower public expenditures and ultimately raise refugees’ employment prospects. Martén, Hainmueller, and Hangartner (2019) leveraged residential placement data for refugees in Switzerland, where, by law, refugees must live in assigned areas during their first five years of residence. They found that refugees living in residential areas with many conationals were more likely to enter the labor market, suggesting that ethnic networks enhance rather than limit refugee integration.…”

A New Beginning: Early Refugee Integration in the United States

“…National origin is important because we expect refugee groups that arrived with more resources and positive context of reception to become better integrated into American society than groups with fewer resources and a negative context of reception (Portes and Rumbaut 2001). We use Cubans as the reference group to probe the role of ethnic enclaves in shaping the early integration of refugees (Martén, Hainmueller, and Hangartner 2019). Some of these refugee groups arrive in localities with few coethnics and this lack of coethnic community would hinder their initial integration.…”