IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/inn/wpaper/2021-32.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Housing Support Policies and Refugees' Labor Market Integration in Austria

Author

Listed:
  • Fanny Dellinger

Abstract

Housing support is an important lever for promoting integration objectives with huge potential to improve refugees' early employment outcomes. This mixed-methods study is based on Austrian register data and interviews with NGO and government representatives. In Austria, asylum seekers are quasi-randomly assigned to federal states (Bundesländer). There, monetary assistance is similar for asylees but only some states offer further support with the housing search process. This study assesses the impact of housing support on refugees' location choice and early employment outcomes by comparing two groups of refugee men: singles and those with families. If housing support is limited, scarce resources are directed to the most vulnerable and single men are often left out. This makes them more likely to leave an assigned state and find shelter with the ethnic community. Whereas in states with strong housing support single men and families show roughly equal propensities to out-migrate, if support is low 63% of single men but only 35% of families leave. In the first year, employment rates of single men assigned to low housing support states are estimated to be 6 percentage points lower due to a lack of housing support.

Suggested Citation

  • Fanny Dellinger, 2021. "Housing Support Policies and Refugees' Labor Market Integration in Austria," Working Papers 2021-32, Faculty of Economics and Statistics, Universität Innsbruck.
    • Handle: RePEc:inn:wpaper:2021-32
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www2.uibk.ac.at/downloads/c9821000/wpaper/2021-32.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gina Netto, 2011. "Strangers in the City: Addressing Challenges to the Protection, Housing and Settlement of Refugees," International Journal of Housing Policy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(3), pages 285-303.
    2. Tito Boeri & Marta De Philippis & Eleonora Patacchini & Michele Pellizzari, 2015. "Immigration, Housing Discrimination and Employment," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 125(586), pages 82-114, August.
    3. George J. Borjas, 2021. "Does Immigration Grease the Wheels of the Labor Market?," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Foundational Essays in Immigration Economics, chapter 14, pages 431-484, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    4. Stefan Schiman, 2021. "Labor Supply Shocks and the Beveridge Curve: Empirical Evidence from EU Enlargement," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 40, pages 108-127, April.
    5. Azlor, Luz & Damm, Anna Piil & Schultz-Nielsen, Marie Louise, 2020. "Local labour demand and immigrant employment," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    6. Courtney Brell & Christian Dustmann & Ian Preston, 2020. "The Labor Market Integration of Refugee Migrants in High-Income Countries," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 34(1), pages 94-121, Winter.
    7. Damm, Anna Piil, 2014. "Neighborhood quality and labor market outcomes: Evidence from quasi-random neighborhood assignment of immigrants," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 139-166.
    8. Magda Bolzoni & Enrico Gargiulo & Michele Manocchi, 2015. "The social consequences of the denied access to housing for refugees in urban settings: the case of Turin, Italy," International Journal of Housing Policy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(4), pages 400-417, October.
    9. Anita Aigner, 2019. "Housing entry pathways of refugees in Vienna, a city of social housing," Housing Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(5), pages 779-803, May.
    10. Christian Dustmann & Francesco Fasani & Tommaso Frattini & Luigi Minale & Uta Schönberg, 2017. "On the economics and politics of refugee migration," Economic Policy, CEPR, CESifo, Sciences Po;CES;MSH, vol. 32(91), pages 497-550.
    11. Fanny Dellinger & Peter Huber, 2021. "The Impact of Welfare Benefits on the Location Choice of Refugees. Testing the Welfare Magnet Hypothesis," WIFO Working Papers 626, WIFO.
    12. Magda Bolzoni & Enrico Gargiulo & Michele Manocchi, 2015. "The social consequences of the denied access to housing for refugees in urban settings: the case of Turin, Italy," European Journal of Housing Policy, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 15(4), pages 400-417, October.
    13. Per-Anders Edin & Peter Fredriksson & Olof Åslund, 2003. "Ethnic Enclaves and the Economic Success of Immigrants—Evidence from a Natural Experiment," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 118(1), pages 329-357.
    14. Lori A. Beaman, 2012. "Social Networks and the Dynamics of Labour Market Outcomes: Evidence from Refugees Resettled in the U.S," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 79(1), pages 128-161.
    15. Josef Kohlbacher, 2020. "Frustrating Beginnings: How Social Ties Compensate Housing Integration Barriers for Afghan Refugees in Vienna," Urban Planning, Cogitatio Press, vol. 5(3), pages 127-137.
    16. Olof Åslund & Dan-Olof Rooth, 2007. "Do when and where matter? initial labour market conditions and immigrant earnings," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 117(518), pages 422-448, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Arendt, Jacob Nielsen & Bolvig, Iben, 2023. "Trade-offs between work-first and language-first strategies for refugees," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    2. Jacob Nielsen Arendt & Christian Dustmann & Hyejin Ku, 2022. "Refugee migration and the labour market: lessons from 40 years of post-arrival policies in Denmark [‘The Dynamics of Return Migration, Human Capital Accumulation, and Wage Assimilation’]," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 38(3), pages 531-556.
    3. Simone Schüller & Tanika Chakraborty, 2022. "Ethnic enclaves and immigrant economic integration," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 287-287, March.
    4. Francesco Fasani & Tommaso Frattini & Luigi Minale, 2017. "The (Struggle for) Labour Market Integration of Refugees: Evidence from European Countries," RF Berlin - CReAM Discussion Paper Series 1716, Rockwool Foundation Berlin (RF Berlin) - Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration (CReAM).
    5. Seonho Shin, 2022. "Evaluating the Effect of the Matching Grant Program for Refugees: An Observational Study Using Matching, Weighting, and the Mantel-Haenszel Test," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 43(1), pages 103-133, March.
    6. Wiedner, Jonas & Schaeffer, Merlin, 2023. "The refugee mobility puzzle: Why do refugees move to cities with high unemployment rates once residence restrictions are lifted?," SocArXiv rnzbc, Center for Open Science.
    7. Lee, Taehoon & Peri, Giovanni & Viarengo, Martina, 2022. "The gender aspect of migrants’ assimilation in Europe," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    8. Cevat Giray Aksoy & Panu Poutvaara & Felicitas Schikora, 2020. "First Time Around: Local Conditions and Multi-Dimensional Integration of Refugees," CESifo Working Paper Series 8747, CESifo.
    9. Boberg-Fazlic, Nina & Sharp, Paul, 2020. "Is there a Refugee Gap? Evidence from Over a Century of Danish Naturalizations," CAGE Online Working Paper Series 506, Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE).
    10. Francesco Fasani & Tommaso Frattini & Luigi Minale, 2022. "(The Struggle for) Refugee integration into the labour market: evidence from Europe [Cashier or consultant? Entry labor market conditions, field of study, and career success]," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 22(2), pages 351-393.
    11. Braun, Sebastian T. & Dwenger, Nadja, 2020. "Settlement location shapes the integration of forced migrants: Evidence from post-war Germany⁎," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    12. Zenou, Yves & Biavaschi, Costanza & Giulietti, Corrado, 2021. "Social Networks and (Political) Assimilation in the Age of Mass Migration," CEPR Discussion Papers 16182, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    13. Azlor, Luz & Damm, Anna Piil & Schultz-Nielsen, Marie Louise, 2020. "Local labour demand and immigrant employment," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    14. Strazzeri, Maurizio, 2021. "Assessing the Role of Asylum Policies in Refugees' Labor Market Integration: The Case of Protection Statuses in the German Asylum System," VfS Annual Conference 2021 (Virtual Conference): Climate Economics 242395, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    15. Stefan Jestl & Michael Landesmann & Sebastian Leitner & Barbara Wanek-Zajic, 2022. "Trajectories of Employment Gaps of Refugees and Other Migrants: Evidence from Austria," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 41(2), pages 609-669, April.
    16. Synøve Andersen & Alícia Adserà & Marianne Tønnessen, 2023. "Municipality Characteristics and the Fertility of Refugees in Norway," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 24(1), pages 165-208, March.
    17. Olof Åslund & Per-Anders Edin & Peter Fredriksson & Hans Grönqvist, 2011. "Peers, Neighborhoods, and Immigrant Student Achievement: Evidence from a Placement Policy," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 3(2), pages 67-95, April.
    18. Glitz, Albrecht, 2017. "Coworker networks in the labour market," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 218-230.
    19. Ludolph, Lars, 2023. "The value of formal host-country education for the labour market position of refugees: evidence from Austria," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 117392, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    20. Seonho Shin, 2021. "Were they a shock or an opportunity?: The heterogeneous impacts of the 9/11 attacks on refugees as job seekers—a nonlinear multi-level approach," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 61(5), pages 2827-2864, November.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Labor Market Integration of Refugees; Housing entry pathways; host country institutions; Austria;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers
    • J68 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Public Policy
    • I38 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs
    • H73 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - Interjurisdictional Differentials and Their Effects

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:inn:wpaper:2021-32. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Janette Walde (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/fuibkat.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.