Working Paper: NBER ID: w29781
Authors: Mette Foged; Janis Kreuder; Giovanni Peri
Abstract: We evaluate the effect on newly arrived refugees' employment of a policy, introduced in Denmark in 2013, that matched refugees to occupations with local labor shortages after basic training for those jobs. Leveraging the staggered roll-out across municipalities, we find that the policy increased employment by 5-6 percentage points one year after arrival and 10 percentage points two years after. The policy was especially effective for male refugees and refugees with some secondary education. The findings suggest that this type of policy could alleviate long-term labor shortages and integrate low-skilled immigrants, while having minimal competition effects on natives.
Keywords: refugees; labor shortages; employment policy
JEL Codes: J24; J61
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Policy implemented in Denmark in 2013 (H59) | Employment outcomes for refugees (J68) |
| Policy implemented in Denmark in 2013 (H59) | Integration of refugees into the labor market (J68) |
| Policy implemented in Denmark in 2013 (H59) | Reduction of long-term labor shortages (J23) |
| Policy implemented in Denmark in 2013 (H59) | Competition effects on native workers (J79) |