We conducted a field experiment to evaluate the impact of job-search assistance on the employment of recently arrived refugees in Germany. The treatment group received jobmatching support: an NGO identified suitable vacancies and sent the refugees' CVs to employers. Results of follow-up phone surveys show a positive and significant treatment effect of 13 percentage points on employment after twelve months. These effects are concentrated among low-educated refugees and those facing uncertainty about their residence status. These individuals might not search effectively, lack access to alternative support programmes, and may be disregarded by employers due to perceived higher hiring costs.

Does the emigration of skilled individuals necessarily result in losses for source countries due to the brain drain? Combining industry-level patenting and migration data from 32 European countries, we show that emigration in fact positively contributes to innovation in source countries. We use changes in the labour mobility legislation within Europe as exogenous variation to establish causality. By analysing patent citation data, we further provide evidence that these positive effects are driven by knowledge flows that are triggered by emigrants. While skilled migrants are not inventing in their home country anymore, they contribute to crossborder knowledge and technology diffusion and thus help less advanced countries to catch up to the technology frontier.

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