Status holders find work less and less after they received their residence permit. This is evident from figures published by the Central Bureau of Statistics on Thursday. Of the refugees who received their residence permit in 2014, 1.4 percent had found work after a year. In the class of 2021, that is 7.8 percent.
Several causes are conceivable, says Tanja Traag, chief sociologist at CBS. “It could be that the procedure that status holders have to go through has improved, or the different countries where status holders come from each year.”
The differences are large per country of origin. For example, after two and a half years, work was the main source of income for 5.9 percent of refugees from Eritrea who received their residence permit in 2014, compared to 29.6 percent of refugees from Afghanistan. Five years later, the percentage of Eritreans who live mainly from work had grown to 61.6 percent, the highest percentage.
“The catching up of Eritreans probably has to do with their relative backlog in entry,” thinks Traag. She cites a lack of papers and a language deficiency as examples. “Once the integration process was in order, there was more time to go to work. Moreover, Eritreans relatively often have an intermediate vocational education, which makes it easier for them to get started.”
A dip can be seen in almost all ‘cohorts’ of status holders during the corona crisis. This is because status holders often have flexible contracts and work in vulnerable sectors such as the temporary employment sector and the hospitality industry, Statistics Netherlands writes. Since the end of the corona crisis, an increase has been seen in all years. Of the group that received a residence permit in 2021, the highest percentage has worked so far after six months.
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