Significant Share of Refugees Are Unemployed in Germany, Most Migrant-Background Women Struggle to Integrate

Ten years after the great migration wave in 2015, a sobering picture has emerged in Germany: although many refugees now have jobs, true integration into society is still far from reality. Women in particular have barely managed to adapt.

Illustration (Photo: AFP)

Because the German federal government also judged refugees’ integration into the labor market to be too low, Hubertus Heil (SPD), the then labor minister, launched the “Job-Turbo” program in 2023. Its results have been mixed. Employment rates have risen, but the scheme has fallen short of its targets.

Among those who arrived in 2015, only 19 percent found jobs on the market in that year. After four years, this rate rose to 38 percent, then to 56 percent after seven years.

One of the reasons for this slow increase is simple mathematics. Since many jobs are not permanent, and the number of newly arrived refugees remains high, the overall rate increases only moderately, even though many new jobs and positions are created on the market.

Cover photo: Illustration (Photo: AFP)