Abstract
Objective: This paper examines gender differences in the labour market integration of newly arrived refugees in Germany. In particular, we focus on the heterogeneity in employment rates among female refugees.
 Background: Previous research has demonstrated that refugee women are disadvantaged on the labour market not only compared to their male counterparts, but also compared to other immigrant women. So far, however, little is known about the mechanisms that underlie the specific disadvantages of refugee women.
 Method: Using data from the IAB-BAMF-SOEP Survey of Refugees, we analyse the labour market participation of refugees who migrated to Germany between 2013 and 2017. To test our theoretical assumptions, we apply logistic regressions.
 Results: Our results show that compositional differences in qualifications, family structure, institutional support, and networks can partly explain the gender gap in labour force participation that disadvantage refugee women. We find substantial variation in the importance of different determinants for the labour market outcomes of men and women.
 Conclusion: As the gender gaps in labour supply could be fully attributed to the theoretical mechanisms offered in the literature, further research is needed to disentangle female refugees' employment behaviour.
Highlights
The influx of refugees who reached Germany in 2015 and 2016 stands out in comparison to the numbers entering other European countries, and with respect to Germany’s history since the end of World War II (Brücker et al 2020b: 28)
In light of previous research that showed the positive effects of finishing a language course and of language proficiency on immigrants’ labour market integration, we assume that part of the gender gap in labour force participation among refugees can be explained by gender differences in language course participation and language proficiency (H1b)
The issue of the labour market integration of refugees has been high on the political agenda in Germany in recent years
Summary
The influx of refugees who reached Germany in 2015 and 2016 stands out in comparison to the numbers entering other European countries, and with respect to Germany’s history since the end of World War II (Brücker et al 2020b: 28). From the perspective of the refugees, participation in the labour market is essential to secure their livelihoods, and, more recently, to improve their prospects of being granted permanent residence The discussions on this topic rarely pursue the gender-relevant aspects of the integration process, even though there is considerable evidence that there are gender gaps on the German labour market, for immigrants seeking to integrate (Salikutluk et al 2016), but for men and women overall (Blossfeld et al 2015; Buchholz et al 2015; Kosyakova et al 2017). The article concludes with a discussion of our main findings
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