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Wido Geis-Thöne IW-Report No. 42 1. September 2020 The Integration of Refugees is Making Great Progress: Taking Stock Five Years After the Strong Influx

Although the period of the strongest influx of refugees in the history of the Federal Republic of Germany is five years ago, more asylum seekers have come to Germany in recent years than at the beginning of the 2010s.

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Taking Stock Five Years After the Strong Influx
Wido Geis-Thöne IW-Report No. 42 1. September 2020

The Integration of Refugees is Making Great Progress: Taking Stock Five Years After the Strong Influx

IW-Report

German Economic Institute (IW) German Economic Institute (IW)

Although the period of the strongest influx of refugees in the history of the Federal Republic of Germany is five years ago, more asylum seekers have come to Germany in recent years than at the beginning of the 2010s.

In 2019, about 166,000 persons filed asylum applications, compared to only 49,000 in 2010. Many of the asylum procedures of the recent years have not yet been finally decided, mainly due to a large number of complaints against first-instance decisions of the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF). On 31 December 2019, the number of persons whose protection status had not yet been definitively decided was 266,000, while only 57,000 procedures had not yet been decided by the BAMF. However, most of the refugees who have remained in Germany have by now been granted a residence permit. While the number of persons with a temporary protection status that had been granted in an asylum procedure amounted to 104,000 on 31 December 2014, it had been 976,000 on 31 December 2019, which is nearly ten times as much. Looking at the regional distribution of refugees on 31 December 2019, the numbers are particularly high in the metropolitan areas of north-western Germany and particularly low in the eastern states excluding Berlin and Bavaria. However, the picture differs considerably depending on the country of origin. While many Syrians live in the Ruhr area and in Saarland, Afghans are often found in the region around Hamburg and in Hesse and Iraqis in the region around Hanover.

The integration of the refugees into the educational system and the labour market has progressed rapidly in recent years. For example, the number of trainees from the eight countries of origin Afghanistan, Eritrea, Iraq, Iran, Nigeria, Pakistan, Somalia and Syria, who are subject to social security contributions, increased approximately eightfold from 6,800 to 54,600 between 31 December 2015 and 31 December 2019, and the employment rate of persons from these countries rose from 10.6 per cent to 30.8 per cent between April 2016 and November 2019 following a sharp drop due to the large influx of refugees. However, the situation here has worsened somewhat again this year with the corona pandemic. Even though it is not yet clear how long its negative effects on the labour market will continue, it can be assumed that the (labour market) integration of the refugees will return to the positive development of recent years in the longer term. In the next years, employment prospects should improve considerably, since against the background of demographic change many more people will be leaving the labour market than will be moving up. In 2017, there were around a quarter fewer 15 to 24-year-olds than 55 to 64-year-olds In Germany.

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Taking Stock Five Years After the Strong Influx
Wido Geis-Thöne IW-Report No. 42 1. September 2020

Wido Geis-Thöne: Making Tremendous Progress with Integration of Refugees – A review five years after the great migration

IW-Report

German Economic Institute (IW) German Economic Institute (IW)

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Record immigration not only due to flight from Ukraine
Wido Geis-Thöne IW-Report No. 42 12. September 2023

Record immigration not only due to flight from Ukraine

In 2022, more people immigrated to Germany than ever before in the history of the Federal Republic. Around 1.46 million more people moved here than left the country, which is more than a quarter more than the previous record of 1.14 million from 2015.

IW

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Wido Geis-Thöne IW-Report No. 25 25. April 2023

Immigration from Latin America: Successes and potential for securing skilled workers

Against the background of the baby boomers leaving the labour market, Germany will be increasingly dependent on skilled workers from abroad in the coming years in order to secure growth and prosperity.

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