ICAR

statistics

There is a surprising lack of research, statistical data and evidence on:

• the economic contribution made by refugees and economic migrants in the UK;
  the level of unemployment and underemployment among refugees;
• the engagement of asylum seekers in irregular employment;
• their skills and qualifications on arrival;
• economic outcomes for refugees over time;
• tracking outcomes for those who have received various kinds of training and support e.g. language courses, New Deal, Work Based Learning for Adults, educational grants, start up grants, CV writing, interview skills, etc.

Compared with Australia and Canada there is very little statistical data about refugees and asylum seekers in the UK. Because little is known about their numbers and whereabouts and little demographic data collected at the asylum application stage, there is no refugee sampling frame. The acute need for research and data collection is highlighted in a number of recent reports.

However these information gaps are increasingly being addressed. The Home Office Immigration and Nationality Department has a research programme attached to its integration policy and is considering ways of recording the skills and qualifications of asylum applicants. As part of this, the Immigration Research and Statistics Service (IRSS) has recently conducted a postal survey on the skills, qualifications and English language competency of people granted refugee status and ELR. This is the largest ever skills audit of this group and data collated from the survey will contribute to creating an employment and education profile of this group in the UK. Other local and regional skills audits have also been initiated in response to this information deficit (see projects and initiatives section below). The Home Office Immigration Research and Statistics Service is currently examining the feasibility of using its audit to create a baseline for a longitudinal survey.

Estimates of unemployment levels have often used the Home Office research published in 1995 as the best available source of data on this issue. It was based on a sample of 263 and took place before the introduction of Section 8 of the Immigration and Asylum Act, which both employers and refugees perceive as a barrier to employment. This study showed that only 27% of those seeking work were employed. Subsequent government-published research has found that on the basis of a survey of 400 refugees and asylum seekers from five different countries, living in five regions in England and who had been in the UK for different lengths of time, the level of labour market activity was very low indeed. Only 29% of refugees were working at the time of the survey compared with 60% of the ethnic minority population as calculated using Labour Force Survey data. Within this sample, men were more likely to be employed than women, with only 15% of women being in paid employment compared to 42% of men. There were also differences in employment by country of origin. Tamils were the group most likely to be working, with 36% of these respondents in employment at the time of the survey, whilst Somalis were much less likely to have a job, with only 16% of respondents employed.

The unemployment rate among asylum seekers still awaiting decisions on their applications but with permission to work is higher but there are few statistics. The report published by DWP found that 25% of those with temporary admission were employed compared to 31% of those with secure status (ILR, refugee status, citizenship). The Peabody Trust and the London Research Centre found, on the basis of a sample of 236 London-based interviewees that there was 68% unemployment among asylum seekers and 42% unemployment among refugees. Taken together, 51% of those seeking work were unemployed.

These studies echo the findings of other recent small-scale studies that found similarly high unemployment rates. For example, studies in 1997 found that of the groups surveyed, 73% were unemployed, 85% had never succeeded in getting employment and at least 75% were unemployed after 2 years. In 1998, it was estimated that 160,000 refugees and asylum seekers in Greater London were unemployed.

There is no data about irregular employment among asylum seekers, but it is thought to be high.

ICAR continues to press for:

• the collection of data on employment outcomes for refugees both in Greater London and in the rest of the UK;
• auditing of their skills and qualifications, languages spoken and English language needs when they start job seeking;
• research into employment rates among refugee professionals.

Last Updated: 12/03/07

• Prev
• Next