Processes of labour market integration of young refugees in Austria (FIMAS+YOUTH)

Client/Funding Institution

International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD)

Abstract

Building on the surveys FIMAS, FIMAS+INTEGRATION and FIMAS+INTEGRATION², the project FIMAS+YOUTH represents the fourth wave of the Austrian longitudinal study on the integration processes of refugees. Generally, the FIMAS project series aims to shed light on the integration processes of refugees and beneficiaries of subsidiary protection from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran in Austria by following them dynamically over time. Its core focus is on labour market integration as well as its interaction with other integration domains (i.e. social integration, educational integration, residential integration, etc.) that favour or hinder labour market integration. The project FIMAS+YOUTH focusses on young refugees, aged 15 to 25, and their integration processes and experiences. The overall sample comprises over 2,700 respondents of which a quarter has also participated in at least one of the previous three FIMAS waves. In addition to a comprehensive project report on the integration experiences of young refugees based on the fourth wave, we conducted a first analysis exploiting the panel dimension of the FIMAS dataset. The timing of the FIMAS+YOUTH survey allowed us to analyse specifically how the COVID-19 crisis impacted on different aspects of labour market integration of refugees in Austria. We found a rather strong negative impact of the crisis on refugees with high levels of education and on women, while other groups of refugees managed to benefit from the opening up of opportunities in specific segments of the labour market (such as food and parcel delivery, etc.)

Duration

January 2021 - September 2021

wiiw team Leader

Michael Landesmann

wiiw Staff

Sandra M. Leitner

Publications

Related News

Countries covered: Austria

Research Areas: Labour, Migration and Income Distribution

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