This week, the EU Parliament adopted a resolution, which demands to grant refugees and asylum seekers access to housing, healthcare, education, social protection and to the labour market. However, the creation of special labour markets for refugees has been rejected. The implementation of the requested measures needs speedy action and investments. Hence, for example the demand to increase the minimum share of the European Social Fund (ESF) to 25 percent of the Cohesion Fund has been agreed. Unfortunately, a demand made by the Chamber of Labour to create a separate EU wide employment initiative to aid integration did not find any support.

Member States have to ensure the speedy and complete integration of refugees into the labour market and their social inclusion

One can clearly derive from the demands of the EU Parliament that the duty to integrate refugees lies primarily with the Member States. However, the EU Commission is also required to make a more concerted effort to ensure that refugees and asylum seekers are granted more effective access to the labour market, in particular by making certain that the Member States do not prescribe too restrictive conditions for accessing employment, making the latter disproportionately difficult. However, the most important concern of the Parliament is to release more funds for integrating refugees into the labour market. Hence, the European Parliament requests that the EU Commission, when revising the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFR), will consider the introduction of a minimum share of 25 % of funds earmarked for the cohesion policy for the European Social Fund in order to ensure suitable resources for the integration of refugees into the labour market in the long term. Even though this partly equals the demand of the Chamber of Labour, it would have been even better if one had supported the notion that the European Social Fund will be increased by further 10 billion Euro right from the start. Otherwise one might run the risk that more money is released for the integration; however, only by redeploying it within the budget framework, which means that cuts might be made in other sectors.

National minimum wages apply to all

Another important point concerning the integration of refugees into the labour market requires that no differentiation must be made with regard to payment and that therefore national minimum wages apply to all. If this would not be the case, one would have to deal with wage competition and social dumping between local and newly arriving employees. The demands of the EU Parliament are now in place and one can only hope that the relevant policymakers will implement them as quickly as possible.

Further information:

Adopted Report of the EU Parliament on the subject “Refugees – social inclusion and integration into the labour market“