I’ve written before about the benefits societies reap when they can integrate refugees into the labor market. Equally, however, doing so can be extremely difficult, whether due to both the challenges faced by immigrants generally and those specific to refugees.
Research from Cornell highlights these difficulties and reveals that refugees in the United States are less likely to be employed the longer they live in the country. This is despite gaining lawful permanent residency status, which while it provides a short-term boost to employability prospects, is not sustained, with employment falling after around five years.
“We find that declines in federal funding support, market-based mandates emphasizing rapid employment and quickly achieved self-sufficiency, and a patchwork of disparately funded and poorly networked support organizations all help explain why federal resettlement resources fall short in aiding the long-term employment prospects of refugees,” the researchers say. “These results have important implications for studies of immigrant integration, state support for social welfare, and organizational sociology.”
Tracking progress
The researchers analyzed two distinct waves from the New Immigrant Survey, which tracks new immigrants, including refugees, after they have been granted permanent resident status. They added to this by conducting interviews with 61 different organizations from across the United States, each of which aims to serve refugees communities in some way.
The authors cite a persistent decline in funding for federal resettlement in the wake of 9/11. Whereas in the 1980s refugees were entitled to around three years of government support, now they get around six months at most.
What’s more, the successful integration of refugees was also hampered by the strong expectation in American society that they will gain self-sufficiency and independence as quickly as possible. As such, instead of being given ample time to learn English or to find roles that are a good match for their skills and experience, refugees are often channeled into low-paid work that while readily available seldom offer long-term prospects or sustainable employment.
The situation is often compounded by the lack of coordination and communication between programs run by the federal government, which tends to focus on short-term employment, and non-governmental agencies, which focus their efforts more on long-term employment. These programs tend to have limited funding, however, so refugees can often struggle to get support when the short-term federally funded program ends.
“Based on our research, my co-authors and I argue that coordinating across organizations will allow refugees greater dignity and more independence as they resettle in the United States,” the authors conclude. “Refugees are more likely to succeed with greater coordination. But organizations need state support to make that happen.“
