Are Refugees’ Labour Market Outcomes Different from Those of Other Migrants? Evidence from the United Kingdom in the 2005-2007 Period

We merged the Survey of New Refugees (SNR) with the UK Labour Force Survey (LFS) to compare the labour market outcomes of refugees in the UK with those of other migrants. We compare new refugees with a full sample of LFS migrants and with a sample of recent LFS migrants. Controlling for relevant characteristics we find that eight and fifteen months after the grant of protection those in the SNR sample have significantly worse outcomes than those in the LFS sample, including a lower likelihood of being in employment and higher likelihood of unemployment. However, twenty-one months after the grant of protection the labour market outcomes of new refugees are not statistically different from those of recent migrants in the LFS sample and the difference with those in the full LFS sample decreases substantially. While refugees are initially at a significant labour market disadvantage the gap seems to disappear over time.