ICMCEUROPE WelcometoEurope.pdf (5.89 MB)

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civic knowledge tests, and the Czech
Republic will introduce a social and
historical knowledge requirement for
citizenship acquisition from 2014.
3.4. Employment & training
Employment promotes integration in
a number of key ways, including by
enabling self-sufficiency, improving
language and creating social and professional
networks. National refugee
and migrant integration programmes
in Europe are increasingly focused on
employment as the long-term goal of
integration. In Sweden, for example, a
2010 change transferred the primary
national responsibility for refugee and
migrant integration from municipalities
to the Swedish Public Employment
Service.
The employment skills and experiences
of resettled refugees differ widely
depending on background and prearrival
experiences. Those who were
resident in camps may not have worked
for long periods, so becoming deskilled,
while others will have no experience of
formal employment at all. Some local
actors have developed initiatives to
provide resettled refugees with work
experience in the receiving country.
Municipalities in the Czech Republic, for
example, often provide adult refugees
with ‘starter’ jobs in public services such
as gardening and general maintenance.
In some Danish municipalities, resettled
young people leaving school are able to
enter ‘production schools’ that provide
young people seeking employment with
training and placements in a range of
different vocational professions.
Language ability is the key barrier
to employment for many refugees,
including those who are resettled. Even
where basic language skills are acquired,
many professions require knowledge of
specific vocational language and terminology
in order to take up employment.
A good practice in this regard is the
national Swedish for Immigrants (SFI)
programme has developed a Labour
Market Training component that provides
refugees specialised vocational
language training for refugees training in
specific professions - including welding,
bakery, cleaning and bus driving.
European civil society organisations
and municipalities are increasingly
engaging with private business in the
area of employment for refugees,
including those who are resettled. The
Dutch Refugee Council has worked
with the national employment office
and private businesses on three separate
programmes to develop 6-month
employment contracts for refugees, 30
and the local integration service of the
Danish municipality of Faaborg-Midtfyn
works in partnership with a local
manufacturer to provide entry-level,
30 Collectively , the 3 programmes created approximately
3600 placements during the period 2006-12.
CHAPTER VII