Factors Promoting and Hindering Refugees’ Labour Market Integration: First Results from an Italian Survey

Abstract

Employment helps foster integration, representing a form of autonomy, stability and fulfilment, particularly relevant for forcibly displaced individuals. The literature states that there might be systemic barriers that prevent from finding employment, but also socio-economic forms of support that could aid in this pursuit. Using data from a novel survey in Italy, the labour market integration of asylum seekers and refugees was studied using partially proportional odds models. The results show the positive effect of language proficiency and that of the network of friends from the hosting country. Bad health conditions, a lower legal status and a lower educational level reduce employment integration. High reliance on economic subsidies is associated with lower employment integration.