Category / Migration research

While few refugees are employed shortly after arriving in Germany, after eight years, 67 percent are employed. There are major differences between men and women: The rate for men is 86 percent, which is even higher than the average rate for the male population in Germany (81 percent). For female refugees, on the other hand, it is 33%.

Overall, refugees often face major challenges when integrating into the labor market, for example due to employment bans or restrictions on their choice of place of residence and freedom of movement. Analyses based on study data from “Living in Germany” show that removing these obstacles promotes employment: An acceleration of asylum procedures and a gradual reduction in the time limits for employment bans go hand in hand with an increase in employment rates.

Further information

Herbert Brücker, Philipp Jaschke, Yuliya Kosyakova & Ehsan Vallizadeh (2023): Entwicklung der Arbeitsmarktintegration seit Ankunft in Deutschland: Erwerbstätigkeit und Löhne von Geflüchteten steigen deutlich. IAB-Kurzbericht 13/2023 (in German).

All results in the overview

Our study shows that Ukrainian refugees are more likely to suffer from mental stress than the general population. About 19 percent reported symptoms of depression and 14 percent reported symptoms of an anxiety disorder in 2023. Women report depressive symptoms and/or anxiety disorders more frequently than men. When comparing age groups, it is also noticeable that these symptoms are particularly common among 18 to 29-year-olds.

Ukrainians have the same right to healthcare in Germany as German nationals. However, language barriers and the complexity of the German healthcare system can make it difficult to receive care for mental illnesses. New concepts such as health guides or support groups can help people with mental health problems.

Further information

Kosyakova, Yuliya, Nina Rother, Sabine Zinn: Lebenssituation und Teilhabe ukrainischer Geflüchteter in Deutschland: Ergebnisse der IAB-BAMF-SOEP-Befragung.

All results in the overview

In the second half of 2023, 22% of Ukrainian refugees in Germany were gainfully employed, and the trend is rising. Nevertheless, refugees face a number of challenges before they can take up employment. In addition to bureaucratic hurdles in the recognition of their qualifications, there are too few childcare places available. This specifically affects mothers with young children taking up employment: Only 23 percent of under-threes had a childcare place in 2023. These and other findings are from the latest report on the survey of Ukrainian refugees as part of “Living in Germany.”

The labor market potential of the refugees is high: 75% have a vocational or university degree, while 95% were previously employed in Ukraine. In addition, German language skills improved significantly in the second half of 2023 compared to 2022: Only 10 percent still say they speak German poorly or not at all.

“Promoting alternative childcare models could break down barriers and make it easier for many mothers to enter the labor market. Cooperative childcare networks and voluntary initiatives could play a decisive role in this,” says Sabine Zinn, acting director of the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP), as the “Living in Germany” study is also known.

Further information

Kosyakova, Yuliya, Nina Rother, Sabine Zinn: Lebenssituation und Teilhabe ukrainischer Geflüchteter in Deutschland: Ergebnisse der IAB-BAMF-SOEP-Befragung.

All results in the overview

The need for accommodation for refugees has grown steadily in the wake of the large-scale refugee movements to Europe since 2015. Often, there are regional protests when a new facility is announced. Thus, researchers investigated what influence the geographical proximity of accommodation has on people’s attitudes towards refugees.

To do this, they evaluated geographical data from the study “Living in Germany”, looking at people living within a radius of 20 kilometers of a facility. The result: there is hardly any evidence that nearby accommodation influences attitudes towards refugees. In fact, according to the researchers, people’s attitudes remain fairly stable over a longer period of time. There is much to suggest that negative attitudes are most likely to be driven by a general concern for the individually perceived well-being of society. The presence of accommodation for refugees in the immediate vicinity, on the other hand, is not a decisive factor.

Further information

Katja Schmidt, Jannes Jacobsen & Theresa Iglauer (2024): Proximity to refugee accommodations does not affect locals’ attitudes toward refugees: evidence from Germany, European Sociological Review, Volume 40, Issue 4, pp. 615-638.

Photo credit

CC-BY-SA 4.0 International Andreas Schwarzkopf @ commons.wikimedia.org

All results in the overview

Data from the study “Living in Germany” show the following: Factors such as German language skills, educational qualifications, and intentions to stay significantly influence the employment opportunities of Ukrainian refugees in Germany. Among women, family obligations in particular have a negative impact on taking up employment: if both parents live together in Germany, the employment rate of mothers is around 10 percentage points lower than that of fathers – regardless of the age of the children. In families without children, on the other hand, women are more likely to be employed than men.

The employment rate for single parents among Ukrainian refugees is quite low overall due to the sometimes difficult reconciliation of employment and childcare. At the beginning of 2023, it was only between 10 and 15 percent. This is particularly significant for women, as over a third of them are single parents.

Further information

Graphic of the Institute for Employment Research (IAB)

All results in the overview

image by Maxim Tolchinskiy from Unsplash …

Between 2015 and 2022, around 2.35 million refugees applied for asylum in Germany. In order to avoid overloading individual locations and promote integration, the so-called “residence regulation” was introduced in 2016: According to this, refugees must live in the first place they are assigned for three years.

Using data from the study “Living in Germany,” researchers have investigated the extent to which this regulation promotes the integration of refugees. The result: it does not work, ultimately hindering integration, particularly in the housing and labor market. In addition, it creates a high administrative burden for the responsible authorities.

Further information

Ludger Baba, Marco Schmandt, Constantin Tielkes, Felix Weinhardt & Katrin Wilbert: Wohnsitzregelung für Geflüchtete: kleine Wirkung, großer Aufwand. DIW Weekly Report 20/2024 (in German).

Der SPIEGEL: Wohnortzwang für Geflüchtete senkt Chancen auf Arbeit (für Abonnentinnen und Abonnenten).

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Refugees who have come to Germany since 2013 generally have a high need for support services, especially when it comes to healthcare and language acquisition. This is shown by the analysis of data from the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).

However, whether or not such services are used does not depend solely on whether they exist. Rather, there are numerous obstacles: Many refugees lack information about the offers. In addition to language barriers, a lack of knowledge of social norms as well as discrimination and stigmatization can also stand in the way Additionally, the higher the level of education and the more work experience someone has already gained in their home country, the more likely they are to make use of the existing support services.

Support with finding work and education and with asylum issues in particular is often not taken up. In addition, many services are only available to refugees with “positive prospects of staying,” which is why tolerated persons and people in ongoing asylum proceedings rarely receive help. Study author Ellen Heidinger advises: “Language and culturally sensitive services must be expanded to ensure access for all groups of people.”

Further information

Ellen Heidinger: Bedarf an und Inanspruchnahme von Unterstützung bei Geflüchteten ungleich verteilt, DIW-Wochenbericht 12/2024

ZEIT Online: Integration: Asylbewerber und Flüchtlinge wollen mehr Hilfe

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Refugees often don’t have an easy start to their new lives – partly because they lack language skills. How well and quickly they can acquire the language of their new home also depends on their personality. This is shown by data from the study “Living in Germany,” which Yuliya Kosyakova from the Institute for Employment Research (IAB) and Marie-Christine Laible from the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) analyzed.

According to the study, personality traits such as openness to new experiences, conscientiousness, readiness to take risks, locus of control, and also resilience contribute to people achieving good language skills. If, on the other hand, someone is particularly agreeable or neurotic, this has little influence. Personality traits are particularly relevant when it comes to verbal communication skills, the researchers write. This is less the case when it comes to writing and reading skills.

Further information

Kosyakova, Yuliya, and Marie-Christine Laible. 2022. Importance of Personality Traits for Destination-Language Acquisition: Evidence for Refugees in Germany. International Migration Review, 0 (0). (https://doi.org/10.1177/01979183221132538)

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Refugees who arrived in Germany between 2013 and 2016 felt more discriminated against during the first year of the Corona pandemic than before. This was particularly the case when it came to finding a job and in educational institutions, according to a study by researchers from the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) at DIW Berlin. Refugees who lived in eastern Germany, were younger than 40 years old or had poorer knowledge of the German language, as well as employed women felt most frequently discriminated against. The study was based on data collected as part of the “Living in Germany“ study.

Further information

MiGAZIN: Flüchtlinge fühlten sich in der Corona-Pandemie stark diskriminiert

DIW Berlin (Deutsches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung): Refugees in Germany perceived higher discrimination in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic

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Housing is a central issue of our time and is also important for refugees. After all, the living environment has a significant influence on individual quality of life and social participation. How often, where and why do refugees in Germany relocate? Dr. Kerstin Tanis examined these and other questions on the topic of refugee housing using data from the Living in Germany study.

The analyses, which are based in particular on retrospective data from housing histories in the survey year 2019, show that the majority of refugees have succeeded in making the transition from community accommodations to private apartments. Especially in the beginning, refugees relocate primarily due to official assignment, but with recognition of the protection status and longer duration of stay, the reasons for relocating become increasingly individual. When looking at the distance of relocation, it becomes clear that refugees often change their place of residence and not only their accommodation.

Further information

Bundesamt für Migration und Flüchtlinge (BAMF): The residential history of refugees in Germany (Kurzbericht 01|2022 des Forschungszentrums des Bundesamts für Migration und Flüchtlinge)

All results in the overview

Refugees face numerous challenges starting over in a new place. Many had to flee their homes in a hurry, so they arrived in Germany without a job or housing, and also without knowing the language. “Many refugees start out living in collective accommodations where they have little contact with German speakers. In the beginning, they don’t have many opportunities to learn the language,” says sociologist Cornelia Kristen, who is conducting research on language learning among refugees based on data from Living in Germany.

She says that compared to other new immigrants, more refugees enroll in language classes, with almost three-quarters taking a German class. And the classes pay off. Despite starting off knowing less German than other immigrants, refugees improve rapidly in their first year and after about four years, they speak German just as well as other immigrants. These and other findings from the study by Cornelia Kristen and her team have been published as a DIW Berlin Wochenbericht (in German).

Further information

DIW Berlin: Geflüchtete lernen Deutsch am effektivsten in Sprachkursen

Obermain Tagblatt: Sprachkurse sind für Geflüchtete am effektivsten

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