A Multi-Stakeholder Approach to Refugee Labour Participation in the Netherlands: A Comparison between Syrian and Ukrainian refugees

The decades-long criticism of the low labour participation among refugees in the Netherlands has been reignited since mid-2022 by the arrival of Ukrainian refugees. This refugee group, protected by an exceptional European Union regulation, is entering the Dutch labour market in significantly larger numbers and at a noticeably faster rate than other (regular) refugee groups. The media, politicians and academics have suggested various explanations for this difference in labour participation. However, the explanations provided so far lack in-depth reasoning and rarely combine various academic disciplines.

To gain more insight into the explanatory factors behind the difference in labour participation between Ukrainian refugees and Syrian refugees (who constitute the largest regular refugee group in the Netherlands), Annemijn Gommers conducted a multidisciplinary scientific research addressing this issue in 2022/2023 for her Master’s thesis in Labour Law and Employment Relations. Focusing on the legal and policy aspects while also incorporating multiple disciplines within social sciences, this work thoroughly investigates the role of the three main stakeholders - the government, employers, and refugees - thereby providing the reader a clearer understanding of the multifaceted causes.