Gökçe Uysal Kolasın

Since the beginning of the conflict in Syria, 5.6 million Syrians have fled from their homes. Many of them stayed in neighboring countries, and some traveled to Europe. Currently, refugees’ labor market integration presents unique challenges as refugees are likely to lack the necessary documentation, and they are less likely to speak the host country’s language, a skill crucial in achieving both social and economic integration. Therefore, finding employment, particularly formal employment, is challenging. This renders refugees more susceptible to poverty and to social exclusion, given that a large majority of refugees need to work to sustain their livelihoods. Given that there are almost four million Syrians in Turkey and about one million Syrians in Germany, the primary goal of this project is to investigate the effects of forced migration on labor market integration. Providing a thorough analysis of Germany’s past experience with both voluntary and forced migration, this project aims to identify policies that worked and policies that failed. In a second step, the labor market discrimination that migrant workers face in Turkey and in Germany will be investigated using a novel data set.