Moving Beyond Crisis: Germany’s New Approaches to Integrating Refugees into the Labor Market
The emergency response mounted to deal with the arrival of more than 1 million asylum seekers in Germany in 2015 has been succeeded by a longer-term policy challenge: Getting these newcomers into jobs commensurate with their skills and experience.
While impending skills shortages and an aging population have encouraged many Germans to see the refugee crisis as an opportunity and asylum seekers as a resource, the goal of integrating newcomers into the labor market is not a straightforward one.
A new report from the Migration Policy Institute’s Transatlantic Council on Migration, Moving Beyond Crisis: Germany’s New Approaches to Integrating Refugees into the Labor Market, examines how despite the launch of countless new programs, difficulties remain.
Among them: German language courses are vastly oversubscribed, many new arrivals lack in-demand skills and qualifications, and the country’s prestigious vocational education and training (VET) system is difficult for newcomers to access. These and other challenges, including difficulty getting foreign academic and professional skills recognized by licensing bodies and employers, are further complicated by the comprehensive but splintered integration governance in Germany.
“In spite of Germany’s political will, large-scale investments, and burgeoning civic engagement, the goal of integrating refugees into the labor market is akin to a marathon’s finish line—and most initiatives have just started the race,” writes author Victoria Rietig, an MPI policy analyst.
The report offers a number of recommendations, including encouraging alternative pathways to work beyond the VET system and creating alternative methods of qualification recognition.
The report is the seventh in a Transatlantic Council series focused on promising practices to promote the longer-term social and economic inclusion of refugees. To read earlier reports in the series, visit here.
KJ