Has there been a “refugee crisis”? New insights on the recent refugee arrivals in Germany and their integration prospects

Abstract

Approximately 1.2 million refugees arrived in Germany between 2015 and 2016. The national and international public discourse surrounding the arrival of these refugees covers the full spectrum of opinions. These opinions range from sceptical assessments regarding the 2015 influx as a “refugee crisis” to optimistic appraisals considering the immigration of refugees to be a solution to demographic change and labour shortages. These views are often driven by ideology and emotions rather than grounded in evidence. In this paper, we use data from a unique, nationally representative household survey of refugees who came to Germany between 2013 and 2016 to describe who these refugees are, focusing particularly on demographic and skill characteristics relevant for their successful and sustainable economic integration. We also discuss German public policies and institutional environments to promote refugees’ integration. Our descriptive analysis shows that the processing of asylum applications and the overall provision of accommodations, safety-nets, and integration programs by German authorities have advanced the refugees’ integration process, although the initial shortcomings have been widespread. Over the years, German institutions have generally been open to helping refugees and other immigrants gain ground in Germany. However, there are still challenges for policymakers. One such issue is the gender gap that is reflected in the support for female refugees with childcare obligations, which delays their language acquisition and slows their integration. Nevertheless, the empirical evidence has - contrary to the expectations - given no indications that the influx of refugees in 2015 led to a “refugee crisis” in Germany.

Gendered integration? How recently arrived male and female refugees fare on the German labour market

“…At the same time, women are less likely than men to participate in these courses, especially if they have children. The lower participation rate of women is usually explained by their care responsibilities, and the lack of child care services that would allow them to attend courses (Brücker et al 2020a;Croisier et al 2019;Brücker et al 2020b;Kosyakova & Brenzel 2017). As women are the main providers of child care, men have more capacity to attend language and integration courses.…”

“…Migrants with (mainly) co-ethnic contacts tend to find employment quickly, but these jobs are often of low quality (Kogan 2016). However, quantitative analyses have shown that although most female refugees in Germany had high levels of social network support prior to their arrival (Brücker et al 2020b), they tend to have fewer "weak ties" after their arrival. This applies to contacts with Germans, as well as with individuals from the country of origin or from other countries (Fendel & Yildiz 2020).…”

“…While some observers interpreted the arrival of these refugees as an economic opportunity given the (until then) growing German economy and shortage of skilled labour, others labelled the influx sceptically as a "refugee crisis" (cf. Karakayali 2018;Brücker et al 2020b). Refugees' successful integration into the German labour market became one of the main hallmarks for both perspectives by making use of the refugee's human capital and handling the 'crisis' successfully.…”

“…We do so by taking into account the different socio-demographic characteristics of refugees, like their education, work experience, and care responsibilities, as well as whether they wear a hijab as a religious symbol. The latest quantitative literature has shown repeatedly that the participation of refugee women in the labour market is often hindered -or is at least complicated -by their care responsibilities (Brücker et al 2020a;Brücker et al 2020b;Fendel 2019). While some aspects of the gendered process of integration are indeed attributable to refugee women spending their time on unpaid care work within the family, others remain unexplained.…”

The Impact of Pre- and Postarrival Mechanisms on Self-rated Health and Life Satisfaction Among Refugees in Germany

“…Germany plays a prominent role in the management of refugee 1 flows given that many of these asylum applications were submitted there (1.9 Mio of the first-time applications between 2014 and 2020; Eurostat, 2021). Compared to Germany's previous experience of receiving large inflows of refugees in the early 1990s, the current situation is different in its scale, in part because many recent refugees originate from countries with a limited return perspective, at least in the short term (Degler and Liebig, 2017;Brücker et al, 2020).…”