Language roulette : the effect of random placement on refugees' labour market integration

Détails

ID Serval
serval:BIB_3AD82764DCD6
Type
Article: article d'un périodique ou d'un magazine.
Collection
Publications
Institution
Titre
Language roulette : the effect of random placement on refugees' labour market integration
Périodique
Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies
Auteur⸱e⸱s
Auer Daniel
ISSN
1369-183X
1469-9451
Statut éditorial
Publié
Date de publication
2018
Volume
44
Numéro
3
Pages
341-362
Langue
anglais
Résumé
Placement of refugees and subsequent labour market integration within a host country represents a key challenge for policymakers and has emerged as one of the most divisive topics in the public debate. Immigration policy in Switzerland adopts random placement of asylum seekers across its different language regions. Hence, this policy allows to estimate the causal effect of language skills on employment chances, as refugees are exogenously placed across regions where the spoken language could either match or deviate from individual language skills. The results of this ‘natural experiment’ indicate substantially higher probabilities of finding employment when asylum seekers are placed in regions with a lingua franca that matches their individual language skills. Additionally, the findings suggest that language course participation can offset the reduced likelihood of employment in cases of a language mismatch. While random placement of refugees may be desirable for political reasons, it is detrimental to the economic integration process. Thereby, the study draws relevant conclusions for a larger European immigration policy.
Mots-clé
Demography, immigration policy, labour market integration, language proficiency effect, natural experiment
Open Access
Oui
Création de la notice
27/03/2017 15:56
Dernière modification de la notice
20/08/2019 13:30
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