Permanent or temporary settlement? A study on the short-term effects of residence status on refugees’ labour market participation

Abstract

Whether refugees in need of protection should be granted long- or short-term residence permits in the host country upon arrival is a long-standing debate in the migration policy and scholarly literature. Rights-based models of inclusion advocate for secure and long-term residency status arguing that this will provide the foundations for successful inclusion. Responsibilities-based models on the other hand claim that migrants should only be granted such status if certain criteria, such as full-time employment, have been met, again under the belief that such a system will facilitate inclusion into the host society. Using a sudden policy change as a natural experiment combined with detailed Swedish registry data, we examine the effect permanent residency on three measures of labour market inclusion in the short-term. Our findings are twofold. On the one hand, we find that temporary residents that are subject to a relatively less-inclusive situation have higher incomes and less unemployment. However, at the same time, they are less likely to spend time in education than are those with permanent residency. First part title Permanent or Temporary Settlement? Second part title A Study on the Short-Term Effects of Temporary and Permanent Residence Permits on Labour Market Participation

Integrating Immigrants into the Nordic Labour Markets: The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic

“…In 2013, Sweden moved from temporary to permanent permits for most Syrians receiving asylum. Analysis suggests that short-term employment rates were higher under temporary protection, whereas those granted permanent protection were more likely to enroll in regular education (Jutvik and Robinson 2020). This finding is in line with migration regulation affecting short-term vs. long-term perspectives among refugees.…”

Organising labour market integration support for refugees in Austria and Sweden during the Covid-19 pandemic

“…A range of studies have explored these challenges from a policy perspective, by focussing on asylum or labour market policies and their impact on labour market integration (e.g. Emilsson, 2015 ; Hagelund, 2020 ; Jutvik & Robinson, 2020 ). Other research addresses obstacles affecting refugees at the individual level, e.g.…”

Determinants of welfare benefit use of immigrant groups - longitudinal evidence from Germany

“…However, the labor market implications of permanent residency have received little scholarly attention. Jutvik and Robinson (2020), in Sweden, find that refugees granted permanent residency demonstrate poorer labor market outcomes than temporary residents. At the same time, they also find that permanent residency can incentivize investment in country-specific skills such as language and vocational training (Gathmann and Keller, 2018;Jutvik and Robinson, 2020).…”

“…Jutvik and Robinson (2020), in Sweden, find that refugees granted permanent residency demonstrate poorer labor market outcomes than temporary residents. At the same time, they also find that permanent residency can incentivize investment in country-specific skills such as language and vocational training (Gathmann and Keller, 2018;Jutvik and Robinson, 2020). Dustmann (1993) theorizes that immigrants are more likely to invest in host-country human capital if they can expect to remain in the destination country, potentially reducing the long-term risk of welfare receipt (Dustmann, 1993;Duleep and Regets, 1999;Cortes, 2004).…”