Survey: salaries more important than social benefits for Ukrainian refugees
Ukrainian refugees in Europe are more likely to prioritise employment opportunities and salary levels over social benefits when choosing a country.
This is the conclusion reached by researchers from the Munich Institute for Economic Research ifo and Ludwig-Maximilian University of Munich.
The results of the survey of more than 3,300 refugees were published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich reports.
"The prospect of finding a job in a profession and receiving a decent salary has a much greater impact than social assistance or child benefits," says Panu Poutvaara, professor of economics at LMU and director of the ifo Centre for Migration and Economic Development. According to him, differences in wages play almost four times more important role in choosing a country than differences in social benefits.
The study offered participants a hypothetical choice between two countries with different conditions. If one country offered better job prospects, it was chosen 15 percentage points more often. If the difference was the average salary - e.g. 500 euros higher - it was chosen 9 percentage points more often.
Even those respondents who were unemployed at the time of the survey still had a long-term perspective on entering the labour market. In addition, the presence of friends or family in the host country had an impact, but not so significant: it increased the attractiveness of the country only by 8.5 percentage points. Geographical proximity to Ukraine played an even smaller role.
Interestingly, those refugees who do not plan to return to their home country are mostly oriented towards countries with better economic prospects, even if they are further away from Ukraine and have no relatives there.
"Understanding how refugees choose their country of residence is important for the development of adequate policies at national and international levels," emphasises Yvonne Giesing, Deputy Director of ifo's Centre for Migration and Economic Development.
With some countries debating the idea of cutting social benefits to curb migration, this study shows that such measures are unlikely to have a significant impact. Far more important for refugees is the opportunity to earn a decent living and get a job in a profession.
"Reducing state support may even be detrimental to integration in the long term," Giesing adds.