Refugees often need extensive care in their host country, with accommodation, food and medical care required immediately upon arrival. However, after their situation has stabilised, governments also need to plan for finding the best fit for skills and capabilities refugees bring from their country of origin.
In consideration of the current displacement of millions of Ukrainians due to unjustified Russian aggression against their country, Member States need to find ways for integrating new arrivals into the labour market. An experimental programme, implemented by the Piedmont Labour Agency (APL) and coordinated by the National Agency for Active Labour Policies (ANPAL), has been working on finding answers to this issue.
Funded with the help of the Employment and Social Innovation (EaSI) programme, ‘Forwork’ project services aimed at improving their participation and integration into local labour markets. The project has offered individual support from a job mentor with various additional optional activities – such as profiling, placement services, language and civic education courses and short professional training. Forwork worked exclusively with asylum seekers hosted in emergency centres.
The results show that the individual support combined with personalized services can help increase employment outcomes. In fact, an impact evaluation noted an increase in the participants’ employment rate by nearly by up to 20 %, as well as by an up to 35 % rise in income and a significantly better understanding of the Italian language. Participants have related they are also far more likely to meet, trust and make lasting relationships with Italians – allowing many positive effects in terms of community cohesion and integration.
Integration into the labour market will allow refugees to participate in the local economies as well as bring their often-high levels of expertise to benefit their host state. The success of Forwork can therefore act as good practice helping Europe to facilitate the integration into the labour market of refugees from Ukraine.
