Rethinking and Learning Labour Market Integration for Refugees

By Lisa Dezauer, Social Platform Intern

On 15 October I attended a conference about “Refugees’ labour market integration: challenges and initiatives to maximise potential” organized by the European Economic and Social Committee.

Stefano Mallia and Cristian Pîrvulescu, visited Sicily for a few days as a part of their role as Rapporteur and Co-rapporteur of the EESC opinion on the European Agenda on Migration. Mr Pîrvulescu informed that the situation is very difficult because of clear misunderstandings and lack of coordination among NGOs and local and national authorities to integrate refugees into the labour market. Antoine Savary from DG Home Affairs, recommended a “best practice” guideline which should be coordinated by the European Commission and forwarded to Member States.

Examples of existing initiatives were shared by representatives of different organisations from various countries. Employment and housing were defined as the key elements of integration and it was repeatedly mentioned that unemployment can cause both instability and frustration.

Peter O’Sullivan from UNHCR described the many barriers refugees face that hinder them to access the labour market, such as lack of language, discrimination, housing instability, the recognition of skills and qualifications, immobility, lack of networks (social, family or work networks), childcare issues, health barriers, administration barriers and the asylum process as such. Anne Dussard from Caritas Europe shared the good practices of two projects, the initiatives Magdas Hotel in Vienna and the Workcafe for refugees in Belgium. Volunteering and internships were also mentioned as first steps towards more sustainable employment. Mr Mallia stated that the work of civil society is “the work we need to look at and learn from right now”.

With regards to the current and ongoing influx of migrants, many participants agreed that existing systems are not working and need to be revised. Dirk Buchwald, from the Federal German Employment Agency stated that Germany and other EU countries are currently in a phase of redefining and restructuring processes and systems in order to make them effective.

Such processes need to be speeded up in order to address the basic needs of migrants. The legislative framework for actions taken by civil society national and local authorities need to be revised as soon as possible to ensure a more effective and coordinated response to this situation in the area of labour market integration but also in other areas.

The highlight of this event was the experience shared by Alizoy Temorsgah, a Syrian refugee who fled to Europe in 2008. It took him six years to get the full recognition of being an asylum seeker and he is struggling since four years to access the Belgium labour market and get the recognition of his profession as a doctor. Mr Temorsgah felt the procedures he went through were designed rather to discourage than encourage. Among the obstacles he had to face were administrative and language barriers. He recommended to improve the accessibility of the labour market by consideration of English speaking staff, a digital rather than a paper based procedure, and information courses about for example the health care system.

Including the experience shared by people affected, such as Alizoy Temorsgah, in the political debate is absolutely necessary as a way to properly identify and address the problems, and to find the best solutions.