IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/bwu/eiiwdp/disbei308.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Employment and Job Perspectives for Female Refugees in Germany: Analysis and Policy Implications from a Local Survey Study

Author

Listed:
  • Fabian J. Baier

    (Europäisches Institut für Internationale Wirtschaftsbeziehungen (EIIW))

  • Paul J.J. Welfens

    (Europäisches Institut für Internationale Wirtschaftsbeziehungen (EIIW))

  • Tobias Zander

    (Europäisches Institut für Internationale Wirtschaftsbeziehungen (EIIW))

Abstract

Based on an analysis of a survey carried out by the EIIW/Jobcenter Wuppertal among female refugees, we identify significant drivers of the prospect of finding employment and of being in employment for individuals from this particular sub-group in society. The majority of survey respondents used German or Arabic as their preferred language to complete the survey questionnaire of the EIIW/Jobcenter Wuppertal. Probit/ordered probit and Logit/ordered logit regressions are used to identify the impact of a battery of potential influences relevant for the employment perspectives of female refugees. The probit variable meant looking at those currently in employment (coded 1) or, alternatively, those currently unemployed while the alternative approach was to consider an ordered variable indicating ascending hours worked as a measure of "more work" being undertaken. Personal skills, demographic characteristics, as well as family-related characteristics plus certain types of knowledge/skills and competencies as well as access to digital technologies and social networks, respectively, are identified as being key drivers of employment perspectives for female refugees. For female refugees, access to a computer increases the likelihood of having a job. Marriage also has a positive indirect impact on finding a job. Female refugees with university degrees do not have better chances of finding a job in Germany than those of the respective control group - i.e., those without a degree. It is found that the amount of years women already live in Germany is positively and significantly related to the probability of finding employment, a result which holds across a broad framework of control variables. Concerning the country of origin - using specific control groups - we find weak evidence that women from African countries find it more difficult to integrate into the job market than women from Europe who tend to find a job more easily regardless of their language, culture, family status and education. Refugees from Syria are also rather difficult to integrate into the job market.

Suggested Citation

  • Fabian J. Baier & Paul J.J. Welfens & Tobias Zander, 2021. "Employment and Job Perspectives for Female Refugees in Germany: Analysis and Policy Implications from a Local Survey Study," EIIW Discussion paper disbei308, Universitätsbibliothek Wuppertal, University Library.
    • Handle: RePEc:bwu:eiiwdp:disbei308
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://eiiw.wiwi.uni-wuppertal.de/fileadmin/eiiw/Daten/Publikationen/Gelbe_Reihe/disbei308.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sven Resnjanskij & Jens Ruhose & Simon Wiederhold & Ludger Woessmann & Katharina Wedel, 2024. "Can Mentoring Alleviate Family Disadvantage in Adolescence? A Field Experiment to Improve Labor Market Prospects," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 132(3), pages 1013-1062.
    2. Courtney Brell & Christian Dustmann & Ian Preston, 2020. "The Labor Market Integration of Refugee Migrants in High-Income Countries," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 34(1), pages 94-121, Winter.
    3. Gary S. Becker, 1964. "Human Capital: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis with Special Reference to Education, First Edition," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number beck-5.
    4. Eva Degler & Thomas Liebig & Anne-Sophie Senner, 2017. "Integrating Refugees into the Labour Market - Where Does Germany Stand?," ifo DICE Report, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 15(03), pages 06-10, October.
    5. Clara Albrecht & Maria Hofbauer Pérez & Tanja Stitteneder, 2021. "Migrationsmonitor: Die Bedeutung geschlechtsspezifischer Ansätze für die Integration von weiblichen Geflüchteten," ifo Schnelldienst, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 74(04), pages 63-69, April.
    6. Barry Chiswick & Paul Miller, 2001. "A model of destination-language acquisition: Application to male immigrants in Canada," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 38(3), pages 391-409, August.
    7. Knize Estrada, Veronika J., 2018. "Migrant women labor-force participation in Germany : Human capital, segmented labor market, and gender perspectives," IAB-Discussion Paper 201812, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    8. Nicole M Fortin, 2005. "Gender Role Attitudes and the Labour-market Outcomes of Women across OECD Countries," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 21(3), pages 416-438, Autumn.
    9. Zerrin Salikutluk & Johannes Giesecke & Martin Kroh, 2016. "Refugees Entered the Labor Market Later Than Other Migrants," DIW Economic Bulletin, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research, vol. 6(34/35), pages 407-413.
    10. repec:ces:ifodic:v:15:y:2017:i:3:p:50000000000044 is not listed on IDEAS
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Clara Albrecht & Maria Hofbauer Pérez & Tanja Stitteneder, 2021. "The Integration Challenges of Female Refugees and Migrants: Where Do We Stand?," CESifo Forum, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 22(02), pages 39-46, March.
    2. Clara Albrecht & Maria Hofbauer Pérez & Tanja Stitteneder, 2021. "Migrationsmonitor: Die Bedeutung geschlechtsspezifischer Ansätze für die Integration von weiblichen Geflüchteten," ifo Schnelldienst, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 74(04), pages 63-69, April.
    3. Bedaso, Fenet, 2021. "The Labor Market Integration of Refugees and other Migrants in Germany," GLO Discussion Paper Series 884, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    4. Bredtmann, Julia & Otten, Sebastian, 2025. "Natives’ gender norms and the labor market integration of female immigrants," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 185(C).
    5. Bernd Hayo & Duncan Roth, 2024. "The perceived impact of immigration on native workers' labour market outcomes," MAGKS Papers on Economics 202406, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, Department of Economics (Volkswirtschaftliche Abteilung).
    6. Freitas-Monteiro, Teresa & Ludolph, Lars, 2025. "Barriers to humanitarian migration, victimization and integration outcomes: evidence from Germany," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 126235, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    7. Angerer, Silvia & Bolvashenkova, Jana & Glätzle-Rützler, Daniela & Lergetporer, Philipp & Sutter, Matthias, 2023. "Children’s patience and school-track choices several years later: Linking experimental and field data," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 220(C).
    8. Prof. Dr. Adem KALCA & Resc. Assist. Atakan DURMAZ, 2012. "Diaspora As The Instrument Of Humane Capital," International Journal of Business and Social Research, LAR Center Press, vol. 2(5), pages 94-104, October.
    9. Marco Colagrossi & Claudio Deiana & Andrea Geraci & Ludovica Giua, 2022. "Hang up on stereotypes: Domestic violence and an anti‐abuse helpline campaign," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 40(4), pages 585-611, October.
    10. Marina Dabić & Jane Maley & Leo-Paul Dana & Ivan Novak & Massimiliano M. Pellegrini & Andrea Caputo, 2020. "Pathways of SME internationalization: a bibliometric and systematic review," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 55(3), pages 705-725, October.
    11. Sven Resnjanskij & Jens Ruhose & Simon Wiederhold & Ludger Wößmann, 2021. "Mentoring verbessert die Arbeitsmarktchancen von stark benachteiligten Jugendlichen," ifo Schnelldienst, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 74(02), pages 31-38, February.
    12. Aksoy, Cevat Giray & Poutvaara, Panu & Schikora, Felicitas, 2023. "First time around: Local conditions and multi-dimensional integration of refugees," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    13. Bottazzi, Laura & Lusardi, Annamaria, 2021. "Stereotypes in financial literacy: Evidence from PISA," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    14. Nurul Mohammad Zayed & Friday Ogbu Edeh & Khan Mohammad Anwarul Islam & Vitalii Nitsenko & Olena Polova & Olha Khaietska, 2022. "Utilization of Knowledge Management as Business Resilience Strategy for Microentrepreneurs in Post-COVID-19 Economy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-16, November.
    15. Tendai Zawaira & Matthew W. Clance & Carolyn Chisadza, 2020. "Social Institutions and Gender-Biased Outcomes in sub-Saharan Africa," Working Papers 2020101, University of Pretoria, Department of Economics.
    16. Victor Gay, 2023. "Culture: An Empirical Investigation of Beliefs, Work, and Fertility. A Verification and Reproduction of Fernández and Fogli (2009)," Post-Print hal-04194417, HAL.
    17. repec:hal:wpspec:info:hdl:2441/8651 is not listed on IDEAS
    18. Sagarika Dey & Priyanka Devi, 2019. "Impact of TVET on Labour Market Outcomes and Women’s Empowerment in Rural Areas: A Case Study from Cachar District, Assam," Indian Journal of Human Development, , vol. 13(3), pages 357-371, December.
    19. Iga Magda & Ewa Cukrowska-Torzewska, 2019. "Gender wage gap in the workplace: Does the age of the firm matter?," IBS Working Papers 01/2019, Instytut Badan Strukturalnych.
    20. Benjamin Bennett & Isil Erel & Léa H. Stern & Zexi Wang, 2020. "Paid Leave Pays Off: The Effects of Paid Family Leave on Firm Performance," NBER Working Papers 27788, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    21. Katie Meara & Francesco Pastore & Allan Webster, 2020. "The gender pay gap in the USA: a matching study," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 33(1), pages 271-305, January.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    International migration; labor market; supply of labor; immigrant workers;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration
    • J20 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - General
    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers
    • J82 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Standards - - - Labor Force Composition

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bwu:eiiwdp:disbei308. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Frank Hoffmann (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://elpub.bib.uni-wuppertal.de .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.