Refugee Labor Market Integration at Scale: Evidence from Germany’s Fast-Track Employment Program

Governments continue to face challenges integrating refugees into local labor markets, and many past interventions have shown limited impact.

This study examines the Job-Turbo, a nationwide initiative launched by the German government in 2023 to accelerate refugee employment - primarily among individuals from Ukraine and eight other major countries of origin. Using monthly administrative panel data from Germany’s network of public employment service offices and a difference-in-differences design, we find sizable increases in both caseworker - refugee contact and job placements over a 23-month follow-up. Among Ukrainian refugees, the exit-to-job rate nearly doubled. Effects were broad-based - spanning demographic subgroups, unemployment durations, skill levels, regions, and local labor-market conditions - and concentrated in regular, unsubsidized employment. The program also raised both the rate and the share of sustained placements, consistent with improved match quality. Other refugee groups saw meaningful gains as well, though increases in job placements were concentrated among men and in low-skill jobs, with comparatively modest effects for women. We detect no negative spillovers for German or other immigrant job seekers, finding no evidence of either resource reallocation or displacement.

These results suggest that intensified job-search assistance - embedded early in the integration process and implemented at scale through public employment infrastructure - can meaningfully improve refugees’ labor-market outcomes even amid substantial arrivals.

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