“Our results show that many employers in Germany are reluctant to take on refugees as
apprentices,” says Max Müller from the EPoS Economic Research Center. “Surprisingly, we found
that firms are the least willing to hire refugees in regions and industries, where training places
are hardest to fill.”
Signals of reliability and job-related language skills matter
According to the study, even refugees with a university degree acquired abroad and advanced
German language skills lose out to German applicants holding only the lowest school-leaving
certificate. “What does convince employers to hire refugees as apprentices, are credible signals
of reliability,” says Max Müller. “These signals could be completed internships or records of
regular course attendance in Germany.” Applicants can also increase their chances by acquiring
the German language skills they actually need on the job, the researchers find.
While an automatic right to stay in Germany for two more years after successful completion of
an apprenticeship made no difference to employers surveyed, some measures showed an effect:
For example, a preparatory year combining German language courses with work in the company
raised employers’ willingness to hire refugees by 8 percentage points relative to a baseline with
no supporting policy in place. In addition, companies that had already employed non-EU
workers were 5 percentage points more likely to take on refugees as apprentices than
companies without non-EU workers in the workforce.
“We conclude that the labor shortage alone is unlikely to open the doors of the German labor
market for refugees,” says Max Müller. “According to our study, employers are looking to reduce
the level of uncertainty as to their choice of the right candidate and value credible signals of
reliability.”
About the survey
The economists conducted a survey experiment with 797 firms that train apprentices in
Southern Germany between August and October 2021, in cooperation with five Chambers of
Industry and Commerce and two Chambers of Crafts. Respondents – HR staff, managers or
owners – made hiring decisions between two applicant profiles. The profiles were calibrated on
the BA/BIBB Fluchtmigrationsstudie, a representative survey of refugees registered as seeking
vocational training in Germany. The refugees in question are the 2015–16 arrival cohort, mainly
from the Middle East.