Experts: Nationwide refugee distribution slows integration

Nuremberg – Herbert Brücker, a migration expert at the Institute for Employment Research (IAB) at the Federal Employment Agency, draws a positive conclusion ten years after the large influx of refugees to Germany. "Together with Norway, we are quite far ahead – and significantly better than Denmark, the Netherlands, and Italy," he told the "Handelsblatt" newspaper. But: "We could be even better if we hadn't made the mistake of disproportionately distributing refugees to structurally weak regions with high unemployment," Brücker said. Economist Panu Poutvaara of the Ifo Institute also criticizes the distribution of refugees among the federal states according to the "Königssteiner Key." This leads to "a significant random component in the integration opportunities of asylum seekers," Poutvaara, who is also a member of the German Council of Experts on Integration and Migration (SVR), told the "Handelsblatt" newspaper. Among the male refugees who fled in 2015, the employment rate is now even higher than the German average, according to Brücker, with a clear majority earning their own living. More than half work as skilled workers or at a higher level. "The actual qualification level is much higher than the often nonexistent formal qualifications suggest – and as many Germans still believe." The job structure of refugees in their homeland "was very similar to ours – only the educational paths are completely different." For example, someone in Germany working in retail usually has a commercial training. "That didn't exist in Syria or Iraq, but in fact, people did the same or at least a similar job."