Early Refugee Integration in the United States: Socioeconomic Outcomes Among Refugee Arrivals, 2016 to 2021

• In Event: 40468 - Refugees, Forced Migrants, and Stateless Populations

Abstract

What is the impact of integration aid on the early outcomes of refugees in the US? Few studies have examined this question with nationally representative data, considering both premigration and postmigration characteristics. Using data on 3,005 Principal Applicants from the newly redesigned 2021 and 2022 Annual Survey of Refugees, we examine six educational and labor market outcomes – further educational attainment, employment status, hours worked per week, hourly wages, perceived recognition of educational attainment in the US labor market, and perceived match between educational attainment and employment status/occupation in the US – among the eleven largest refugee groups arriving in the US between 2016 and 2021: Congolese, Ukrainians, Burmese, Salvadorans, Eritreans, Syrians, Iraqis, Somalis, Afghans, Colombians, and Guatemalans. Our preliminary findings suggest five processes: 1) refugees with greater educational attainment prior to resettlement in the US are more likely to pursue further education and employment in the US; 2) Latin American refugees exhibit a labor market advantage in terms of employment and hours worked per week, but not in terms of hourly wages; 3) refugees that spent time in refugee camps prior to resettlement are less likely to pursue education and more likely to earn lower wages; 4) receiving job training provided through refugee resettlement organizations boosts the likelihood of employment; and 5) the presence of an ethnic community does not seem to have significant impacts on refugees’ early socioeconomic integration. Next, we plan to model heterogeneity among refugees using latent class analysis (LCA), assigning individual refugees to latent classes based on their response patterns, regardless of national origin. This paper will provide new insight into the early educational and labor market experiences of refugees and the question of how postmigration policies can best assist these refugees in rebuilding their lives in the US.

Authors

• Francisco Lara-García, Hofstra University

• Jane Choi, Harvard University