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Employment Gaps Between Refugees, Migrants and Natives: Evidence from Austrian Register Based Labour Market Data

Author

Listed:
  • Stefan Jestl

    (The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, wiiw)

  • Michael Landesmann

    (The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, wiiw)

  • Sebastian Leitner

    (The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, wiiw)

  • Barbara Wanek-Zajic

Abstract

This paper analyses labour market integration in Austria of non-European refugees originating from middle and low income countries for the period 2009-2018. We assess their probability of being employed in comparison to non-humanitarian migrants, European third country immigrants and natives. We draw on a register based panel dataset covering the complete labour market careers of all individuals residing in Austria. We control for macro level explanatory variables (e.g. the labour market situation at the time and the place of settlement) and individual characteristics. The analysis shows that initial refugee employment gaps are large in the first years when labour market access is difficult. After a period of seven years the unconditional gap between refugees and natives declines to 30 percentage points, similar to the one of non-humanitarian migrants, but the gap is still further decreasing. After controlling for a set of additional explanatory variables, the conditional gap amounts to only 10 percentage points at the same time. Moreover, our analysis provides insights into differences between employment gaps across population subgroups of immigrant groups and natives by gender, age and education level. Disclaimer Research for this paper was financed by the Anniversary Fund of the Oesterreichische Nationalbank (Project No. 17166). Support provided by Oesterreichische Nationalbank for this research is gratefully acknowledged.

Suggested Citation

  • Stefan Jestl & Michael Landesmann & Sebastian Leitner & Barbara Wanek-Zajic, 2019. "Employment Gaps Between Refugees, Migrants and Natives: Evidence from Austrian Register Based Labour Market Data," wiiw Working Papers 167, The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, wiiw.
  • Handle: RePEc:wii:wpaper:167
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Richard Grieveson & Michael Landesmann & Isilda Mara, 1970. "Future Migration Flows to the EU: Adapting Policy to the New Reality in a Managed and Sustainable Way," wiiw Policy Notes 49, The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, wiiw.
    2. Peter Huber & Marian Fink & Thomas Horvath, 2020. "Data Sources on Migrants' Labour Market and Education Integration in Austria," WIFO Working Papers 613, WIFO.
    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. Peter Huber & Martin Spielauer, 2020. "Return and Onward Migration and Labour Market Entry. Empirical Analysis and Microsimulation Projection for Austria," WIFO Working Papers 616, WIFO.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Refugees; Migrants; labour market participation; longitudinal research;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers
    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration

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