Kurzbeschreibung

Since 2015, more than 3 million people have sought humanitarian refuge in Germany. Although the country has traditionally been a country of immigration, the integration of refugees has posed a challenge to its society and policy-makers. Given the disadvantageous position of refugees in terms of resources and legal status, the first years after arrival may shape their social and economic participation in the long run. Yet, only scarce empirical evidence exists on the early biographical trajectories of refugees in Germany. Based on the first representative survey of refugees in Germany, the IAB-BAMF-SOEP survey with more than 7,000 respondents, this paper seeks to shed light on the trajectories of refugees in the first years after their arrival. We apply sequence analysis and cluster typical trajectories of different refugee groups in Germany. As main events, we consider posing an asylum application, receiving the asylum result, picking up education, starting a job and having a baby. How many individuals in fact follow the “ideal” path starting with the asylum process, followed by education and, ultimately, labor market participation? Which groups deviate most from this pattern? The obtained groups of typical post-migration biographies will provide the basis for future inferential analyses on the effects of the early trajectories on latter integration. At the same time, the main drivers of recurring structures in the sequences (such as legal security, human capital or the family context) can be explored.