PUB - Publikationen an der Universität Bielefeld

With a representative and anonymous survey of in sum 4500 refugees, the Institute for Employment Research (IAB), the Socio-economic Panel (SOEP) at the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin) and the Research Centre on Migration, Integration and Asylum of the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF-FZ) provide a unique and extensive dataset for analysing forced migration and the integration of refugees. The results of this IAB Research Report are based on a first part of the survey where more than 2300 refugees were asked in about 400 questions about various aspects of their lives. Among others they were asked about their characteristics in terms of education, vocational training and work experiences in home and transition countries, about the reasons they left their home countries and their experiences during their escape. Furthermore there have been questions about their attitudes, values and expectations regarding a living in Germany as well as about first experiences in Germany and about their social and labor market integration. Due to the chosen sample and by defining sample weights, the presented results are representative for the population of refugees coming to Germany from January 2013 to January 2016. 58 percent of the refugees attended ten or more years of school, vocational training or studies in their home countries, compared to 88 percent of the German population. 37 percent attended a secondary school, 31 percent some middle school, 10 percent attended only the first few years of school and nine percent did not attend any school. 31 percent attended tertiary, university or vocational education, whose 18 percent completed the study with a certificate. Furthermore, 73 percent of the refugees were employed (for on average 6.4 years) before coming to Germany. 46 percent of the refugees want to receive a school degree, 66 percent a vocational degree. Concerning associated values, there seem to exist many similarities to the German population. 96 percent of the refugees agree to the statement that a democracy is the best system of government. 92 percent think that equal rights for women and men is an important part of a democracy. However, differences exist concerning the statement “there will be problems when a women earns more money than her husband”: while 29 percent of refuges agreed to the statement, it have been only 19 percent among the German comparison group. As main reasons for leaving their home country, 70 percent of the respondents name personal threats of violent conflicts and war. Other main reasons were persecution (44 percent), discrimination (38 percent) and military forced recruitment (36 percent). In addition, bad personal living circumstances (39 percent) and the economic situation (32 percent) were often named reasons for leaving their home countries