Job scarcity makes refugees turn to social benefits

Employment difficulties hampered the migrants’ integration into the new country, said a research report.

According to Helsinki City Executive Office Researcher Anu Yijälä, they had problems especially when it came to learning the language and the culture, and the consequential financial concerns reflected badly in the migrants’ self-esteem and general health, said an official press release.

For example, the release mentioned that a strong motivation to work, a good education, and knowledge of English are all factors that do not guarantee finding a proper job for an Iraqi who has arrived in Finland as an asylum seeker.

Despite a strong motivation to work, after a few years, some of the migrants content themselves with being recipients of social benefits.

The report contained the findings of the Polkuja työhön research project that ended last year. The Helsinki City Executive Office took part in the project which looked into how migrants with different backgrounds had integrated into society and the job market in Finland.

In a new blog post in the urban research publication Kvartti, City Executive Office Researcher Yijälä compiled the main results of a sub-project concerning the subject. In the sub-project, the labour market situation of Iraqi migrants was monitored during their first 2.5 years in Finland.

According to Yijälä, during the time of the first two interview rounds, one aim of the educated Iraqi interviewees was strongly emphasised: to make a living by working. However, employment difficulties hampered the migrants’ integration into the new country.

According to the survey report, several of the interviewees found short-term low-paid jobs that did not match their education. However, accepting the jobs was deemed difficult, since it was challenging to balance the irregular, low income with the social benefits.

Since permanent employment proved to be nearly impossible to get, the attitude of the interviewees gradually changed and became notably more positive toward social benefits, the report mentioned.

The consequences of the significant change of attitude toward social benefits have been covered not only in the blog post but also in the science publication Refugee Survey Quarterly.