First Time Around: Local Conditions and Multi-Dimensional Integration of Refugees

Immigrating into a Recession: Evidence from Family Migrants to the U.S.

“…They find that arriving in a recession reduces refugees' earnings and employment rates for at least ten years. Godøy (2017) and Mask (2020) also exploit refugee placement policies and report similar but less long-lasting effects for refugees in Norway and the U.S. Fasani et al (2021) show that adverse economic conditions at immigration decrease refugees' short-term labor market outcomes in Europe and Aksoy et al (2021) report a similar finding using data from Germany. 4 A number of studies have investigated the labor market effects of graduating in a recession.…”

“…Going beyond economic conditions at arrival,Marbach et al (2018) andFasani et al (2021) provide evidence that the policy environment at immigration has a long-term effect on the labor market integration of refugees Aksoy et al (2021). andJaschke et al (2021) show that attitudes of natives also affect refugees' integration.5 For a review of the literature, see von Wachter (2020).…”

Labor market integration, local conditions and inequalities: Evidence from refugees in Switzerland

“…Co-ethnic networks can reduce transaction costs and help refugees to gain a faster access to the labor market, but on the other hand may reduce the incentives for refugees to further invest in their human capital which could lead to better labor market outcomes in the long run (Edin et al 2003;Damm 2009;Battisti et al 2021;Martén et al 2019). We also expect to find a significant effect of attitudes towards refugees in affecting their trajectory of economic integration but the expected sign could be either positive or negative depending on the mechanism that prevails (Aksoy et al 2020;Jaschke et al 2020).…”

“…In the analysis related to the role of the initial local conditions, we expect to find a negative role in the case of unemployment. High unemployment rates at arrival predict future lower employment rates, lower earnings, and lower human capital investment (Åslund and Rooth 2007;Aksoy et al 2020). We expect to find a significant effect related to the size and density of the co-ethnic networks in the host locations, though the sign and magnitude of the estimated coefficient remains an empirical question.…”

“…The two existing studies, both focusing on Germany, have used self-reported measures of attitudes extracted from existing surveys, and they have examined the role of general attitudes towards migrants, and used it as a proxy for attitudes towards refugees. Aksoy et al (2020) measure attitudes with cross-sectional state-level data from the European Social Survey. They find that positive attitudes towards migrants at the time of arrival, have a positive effect on refugees' economic and social integration.…”