I think the idea of working while you are living as a refugee can be problematic. I’d be fine with refugees just relying on government assistance for the duration of their stay, assuming it isn’t a decade long stay or something.
In cases like the Syrian civil war or political prosecution in regimes like Iran, it can easily be more than a decade. If you prohibit anyone from getting any work for that long and force them to sit on their hands (or work illegally without a permit), they will have a hard time getting back into work and probably continue to rely on government handouts. Who wants to employ someone who hasn’t worked any job for a decade (as an adult) after all?
So you have a choice: Either you allow and encourage refugees to get into the workforce early and accept that they will probably remain here even if they could return after like 5 years. Or you stop them from working for years and accept that many refugees will remain here for decades and rely on government handouts the entire time without ever finding a job.
I did specifically mention cases where the times as a refugee is very long. So I’d be fine with after that time, but not straight away. That opens up the door for too much abuse, both towards the system and towards the refugees themselves.
If you prohibit anyone from getting any work for that long and force them to sit on their hands (or work illegally without a permit), they will have a hard time getting back into work and probably continue to rely on government handouts. Who wants to employ someone who hasn’t worked any job for a decade (as an adult) after all?
But they’re refugees. And that the situation is supposed to be temporary. If the they end up staying for a long time, that sort of gap in the resume is fairly easy to explain with them not being allowed to work during that time. Not to mention, it’s not exactly picky jobs that someone who is on refugee status and just came into the country is typically working in.
So you have a choice: Either you allow and encourage refugees to get into the workforce early and accept that they will probably remain here even if they could return after like 5 years.
That’s not really the intention of the system. It’s not supposed to be just another form of migration or way to be able to work in the destination country. The cause for your temporary refuge in your source country is over, you’re supposed to go back home.
Or you stop them from working for years and accept that many refugees will remain here for decades and rely on government handouts the entire time without ever finding a job.
Yes, I’d be fine with some of them staying for a long time if the situation calls for it and government taking care of them. That’s sorta the responsibility the government has towards refugees. They are people who are (hopefully) temporary displaced and need a play to stay while the situation settles. And if after extended stay they need extra help to find work then government should absolutely help them there too.
If the they end up staying for a long time, that sort of gap in the resume is fairly easy to explain with them not being allowed to work during that time.
I have a feeling that that’s usually not the way most employers treat applicants. Migrants already have a harder time getting jobs. The government shouldn’t make it even more difficult.
Yes, I’d be fine with some of them staying for a long time if the situation calls for it and government taking care of them.
Most refugees not working will just fuel anti refugee sentiments in the population.
I can see the argument for not allowing refugees to work for maybe the first one or two years. But if they have to stay longer than that, they will probably have to stay long term and the government should prioritise integrating them into society and into the workforce.
Furthermore, if we want to keep immigration as low as possible, it would make a lot of sense to prioritise training refugees for jobs where there’s a shortage (like many blue-collar jobs here in Germany) rather than relying on hiring professionals from abroad in addition to housing refugees. While there’s the additional training cost and time, these refugees will at least have been trained in German rather than their native language.
