Keeping a Job: Refugees in Employment

Ayodeji Stephen Akinnimi

As more refugees have their asylum cases decided and are granted legal residency status, German state agencies, along with other institutions, are working to facilitate their early entry into the labor market. Access to various kinds of social networks and the characteristics of the subgroups of migrants constitutes an important factor for how new migrants find and keep their jobs and improve their employment status. While one of the objectives of this research is to understand the interaction between employment regulations and migration controls, especially those directed at asylum seekers and refugees in situating new migrants into low-status positions in the German labor market, the study foregrounds the experience of migrants in navigating through opportunities and constraints as they attempt to improve their employment status and, with it, social status. The research is designed as a qualitative study of recent migrants, sensitive to possible differences along ethnic lines, with a focus on how they get a job, but also how they keep a job, ideally by moving into regular employment contracts.

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