Successful labour market integration starts with a family-centred approach

Initiatives directed at refugee women provide the best payoff. What you do specifically for refugee women has a much greater effect later on in terms of employment gains than for any other migrant group, Thomas Liebig says.

Thomas Liebig, Senior Migration Specialist at OECD, says the default option for most refugee men is to seek employment. After some time in the new country, most of them also manage to get a job. The situation is very different for refugee women.

– The expectation for them is not necessarily to be part of the labour market, despite the fact that they are often willing to work. This is why the right policies can have a significant impact.

The Nordics lead the way, but there is still progress to be made

Speaking at a conference in Stockholm, co-hosted by the Swedish Ministry of Employment and the Nordic Council of Ministers, Thomas Liebig presented the key findings of the new report “The labour market Integration of migrant mothers and fathers in the Nordic countries.”

The report shows that having young children disproportionately affects the employment of migrant women. Migrant parents are more likely to hold temporary job contracts than their native-born peers, and compared to fathers, mothers also rely on part-time employment to a greater degree.

Being a foreign-born mother, you have lower employment probabilities to begin with and a higher likelihood of being in part-time employment. A temporary job also puts you in a more vulnerable situation when you take extended leave due to childbirth, Thomas Liebig says.

The significant benefits of formal childcare for immigrant children

Migrant parents in the Nordic countries now extensively use formal childcare. Thomas Liebig sees this as a very positive development, as participation in early childhood education and care has been shown to strongly impact literacy later in life for children of immigrants.

– I think the progress is quite remarkable, especially when you consider the countries that many migrants come from, where formal childcare does not exist.

Among the policies detrimental to integration, Thomas Liebig is particularly critical of cash-for-care schemes, which pay mothers to stay at home and care for their children.

Paying mothers to stay at home with their children has a very negative impact on integration. Firstly, the mothers do not enter the labour market, and secondly, the children do not attend public institutions and, therefore, do not learn the language as well as their peers, Thomas Liebig says.

Supporting migrant mothers by balancing parental leave responsibilities

Another way to help migrant mothers participate more in the labour market is to encourage migrant fathers to stay at home with their children. Migrant parents, particularly migrant fathers, use parental leave at lower rates than native-born parents.

– But when specific periods of parental leave are reserved for fathers, they are more likely to take them, Thomas Liebig says.

Flexible options for parental leave, in general, benefit immigrants more than the native population. The availability of information in multiple languages is also crucial.

As migrant women’s fertility tends to peak soon after the migrants arrive, it is more common for women to not be able to take part in the extensive introduction policies that the Nordic countries offer the migrants, with a focus on labour market integration.

– To address this, the Nordic countries have introduced a number of measures, such as allowing childbirth and maternity leave during enrolment in integration programmes, providing flexibility around participation, offering childcare options during courses, and introducing some individual integration benefits to make sure that migrant mothers also participate.

The Nordic countries have also focused on the labour market participation of mothers at later stages through specific outreach programmes, providing individualised support and assistance in matching employers with employees.

Policies make a difference

In the past, failed integration has been blamed on too big differences between the migrant culture and the culture of the host country. Thomas Liebig says the Nordic countries have shown that well-designed integration policies can have a great impact.

Policies truly matter, especially for the most vulnerable groups, such as refugee mothers, Thomas Liebig says.

The strong integration, family policies and gender norms in the Nordic countries have proven to have a positive impact on the employment of migrant mothers. Despite the challenges that still remain, the immigrant maternal employment rates in the Nordic countries are high in an international comparison.

Thomas Liebig says this is largely thanks to the Nordic emphasis on taking a whole-of-family perspective on integration.

– I’ve been following integration in the Nordic countries for 20 years. What has always been remarkable is the strong support for integration policies and the emphasis on labour market participation for both men and women. This support transcends shifting public opinion and political party lines.

Text: Sebastian Dahlström
Photo: José Calvente