Ukraine refugees: employment rights ease the fiscal strain - FT中文网
登录×
电子邮件/用户名
密码
记住我
请输入邮箱和密码进行绑定操作:
请输入手机号码,通过短信验证(目前仅支持中国大陆地区的手机号):
请您阅读我们的用户注册协议隐私权保护政策,点击下方按钮即视为您接受。
乌克兰战争

Ukraine refugees: employment rights ease the fiscal strain

Accommodating the sudden influx of immigrants has been costly, but they can contribute to host economies

It is Europe’s greatest refugee crisis since the second world war. The numbers who have left Ukraine have now outstripped those who fled Syria. But it is not just the scale of the exodus prompted by the Russian invasion that makes it stand out.

European countries have given Ukrainian refugees an immediate right to work. This was a good call. Immigrants can make a contribution to host economies. Assimilation will be easier for those who stay.

Accommodating the sudden influx has imposed large immediate costs. In March, Poland estimated it would have to spend at least €11bn on housing, social services and other expenses.

Giovanni Peri, an economist at University of California, Davis, estimates each refugee may cost $8,000-$10,000 in the first year in housing and other support. But given tight European labour markets, he expects Ukrainian refugees who stay would generate enough income in the following years to outweigh this.

Difficulties abound. Ukrainian refugees responsible for infants cannot easily work. Qualifications may not be recognised locally.

Only one in six refugees who arrived in Poland want to stay permanently, according to a central bank report. The main reason was the challenge of providing for themselves. Ukrainians in Russia, some of whom appear to have been forcibly relocated, may not have the option of leaving.

Yet Ukrainian refugees are expected to increase the EU’s workforce by 0.5 per cent, twice as much as the Syrian refugees who arrived in 2014‑17, according to the OECD. Of the earlier group, only 17 per cent of working-age refugees were in employment after two years in the country and less than 50 per cent after five years, according to the European Central Bank.

Ukraine’s geographical and cultural proximity should help refugees assimilate, as should their relatively high levels of education. The average refugee to Europe around the middle of the decade was a young man with modest qualifications, according to the OECD. In the case of the Ukrainian refugees, it is more likely to be a tertiary educated woman.

The economic outlook is darkening. But the freedom to work will alleviate some hardship and reduce Ukrainian dependence on host nations. In the UK, the economic example of earlier generations of eastern European refugees has been a shining one.

版权声明:本文版权归FT中文网所有,未经允许任何单位或个人不得转载,复制或以任何其他方式使用本文全部或部分,侵权必究。

欧洲病夫?德国企业老板针对高病假率发出警告

一项研究称,如果不是因为病假率高于平均水平,德国经济去年将增长0.5%,而非收缩0.3%。

依视路陆逊梯卡估值达千亿欧元,押注眼镜将取代智能手机

该眼镜巨头的首席执行官米莱里表示,与Meta公司合作开发的可穿戴技术将促进增长。

朝鲜向俄派兵后,韩国考虑直接援乌武器

韩国认为,朝鲜向俄派兵和可能的俄朝技术转让对韩国的安全构成直接威胁。

再次陷入危机的大众汽车能走上改革之路吗?

欧洲最大的汽车制造商正与工人和政界人士交战,试图渡过痛苦的电动汽车转型期。

哈里斯的另一个大选对手:通货膨胀

美国选民对高昂生活成本的不满可能决定下周谁将赢得白宫。

Lex专栏:Meta和微软通过季度理智检查

科技巨头今天吹捧真正的胜利,以证明明天的巨额投资是合理的。投资者对此是支持的,但程度有限。
设置字号×
最小
较小
默认
较大
最大
分享×