Flight, arrival in Germany and first steps towards integration

Abstract

"With a representative survey of a total of 4,500 refugees, the Institute for Employment Research (IAB), the Research Centre of the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF-FZ) and the Socioeconomic Panel (SOEP) of the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW) Berlin have prepared a completely new basis of data for the analysis of forced migration and the integration of refugees. The findings presented here are based on the first part of the survey, in which a good 2,300 people were interviewed. Not only reasons for flight and routes taken along with educational and employment biographies were surveyed but also values, attitudes and the personal characteristics of the refugees together with their integration into the labour market and the educational system. The most important reasons for fleeing their country are fear of war, violence and persecution. At the same time, it becomes apparent that the costs and risks of flight are high. The general education of the refugees is very heterogeneous. Only a very small number have occupational or university-level qualifications. Overall, however, the refugees display high aspirations towards education. In their value judgements, the refugees exhibit many more similarities with the German population than with the population of their countries of origin. Although integration into the labour market and into the educational system is just beginning, measures relating to integration policy are starting to take effect." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku)

Cite article

Brücker, H., Babka von Gostomski, C., Friedrich, M., Kosyakova, Y., Richter, D., Scheible, J., Sirries, S., Rother, N., Böhm, A., Giesselmann, M., Kroh, M., Romiti, A., Schmelzer, P., Trübswetter, P., Schupp, J., Fendel, T., Liebau, E., Schacht, D., Siegert, M. & Vallizadeh, E. (2016): Flucht, Ankunft in Deutschland und erste Schritte der Integration. In: DIW-Wochenbericht, Vol. 83, No. 46, p. 1103-1119.