Integration Policy and the Social and Economic Integration of Asylum Seekers

• In Event: The Politics of Asylum Seekers and Refugees

Abstract

Abstract: In 2008, Switzerland implemented a new integration policy to foster the social and professional integration of foreigners. One objective of this new law was also to better integrate refugees with a temporary protection status (F-permit). We estimate the effects of this policy change on social well-being, host-country language proficiency, labour market participation and earnings among Sri Lankan refugees. Using data from the Health Monitoring of the Swiss Migrant Population in 2004 and 2010, our Difference-in-Difference analyses show that Sri Lankan refugees affected by the new policy are less likely to feel lonely while more likely to speak one of the Swiss languages relative to a comparable but unaffected group (Sri Lankan asylum seekers with N permit). They also face employment and earnings growth, meaning that the new integration policy does not only improve the social dimension of refugees’ life but also enhance their economic integration process in the host country. Overall, the results of this study offer causal evidence on the effectiveness of policies fostering the social and labour market integration of refugees.

Keywords: integration policy, social well-being, labour market, earnings, natural experiment.

Authors

• Anita Manatschal, University of Neuchâtel

• Marco Pecoraro, University of Neuchâtel