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Amaral E F L et al.

3.5. Employment among citizens and non-citizens
Challenges to getting a suitable job for first-generation immigrants in the EU included a lack of language skills and
inability to transfer qualifications. According to Eurostat, place of origin, religion, and social background were important
barriers to getting a job in Greece and Italy in 2014. Perceptions that immigrants might take jobs away from native
workers were found to be higher in the United Kingdom than in Germany, based on microdata from the 2014 ESS (listed
in Table 1). It is important to note that countries have different requirements in terms of qualifications that are seen as the
highest priorities for non-citizens. For instance, Germany puts emphasis on individuals’ “willingness to be committed to
the way of life in the host country,” whereas in the United Kingdom, the highest emphasis was on speaking the official
language.
Employment indicators show that residents of European countries who are noncitizens usually performed paid work
in higher proportions than citizens [Figure 6]. However, when we looked at those who reported being unemployed and
were actively looking for a job, non-citizens had higher levels of unemployment when compared to citizens in Germany,
Greece, Italy, and the United Kingdom. These trends are an indication that non-citizens are more likely to be performing
paid activities while still looking for jobs, probably due to current low wages and poor-quality work conditions in the
informal economic sector.
In Turkey, Turks and Syrians seem to compete for jobs requiring low skills. Regarding educational attainment, 47.5%
of the native Turkish population 15 years of age or older had no secondary-school education in 2017, according to the
National Education Statistics Database from the Turkish Statistical Institute. This issue more seriously affected women:
6.4% were illiterate and 7.4% were literate without any diploma in 2017. The educational distribution of the Syrian
refugee population is not very different from that of natives in Turkey. Consequently, Turks and Syrians are in direct
competition for jobs requiring low or no skills.
Similar to other foreigners, Syrian refugees need individual work permits for employment in Turkey. However, the
possibility to apply for these work permits was only granted to Syrian refugees in January 2016, as reported by the Asylum
Information Database. By February 2018, only approximately 14,000 work permits had been issued. This is in part due
to the requirements imposed on employers. To grant a work permit, the employer had to: (1) Prove that no native Turkish
worker was available to conduct the same job of the potential refugee worker; (2) pay 138 U.S. dollars for the refugee
work permit; (3) pay at least a minimum wage to the refugee worker; (4) contribute to social security; and (5) submit
tax reports (Calabia, 2018). In association with these difficulties experienced by employers, most refugee employment
is still in the informal economic sector. Syrian refugees tended to be employed in socially and economically inferior
positions due to language barriers, low educational attainment or the inability to show proof of completed schooling, and
a willingness to work in poor conditions and for low earnings (Calabia, 2018).
The southeast region of Turkey hosts the majority of Syrian refugees and has been among the least economically
developed regions of the country. Border provinces in this area have seen their unemployment levels rise in recent years,
especially among low-educated males. This increase in unemployment is associated with a quick rise in job losses by
citizens, as Syrian refugees tend to be employed illegally, displacing legal incumbents. Job losses experienced by citizens
in areas where Syrians were concentrated not only disrupted the local labor market but also led to negative sentiments
toward refugees, resulting in heightened social conflict. Non-camp Syrians tended to live in city slums and face social
isolation, which exacerbated the cultural rifts between Syrians and Turks.

3.6. Overview of legislation
We summarized a series of legislative initiatives aimed at refugees that were implemented in Australia, Canada, Germany,
Greece, Italy, and the United Kingdom (details and sources are presented in Tables A1-A6 of the Appendix). We present
this information below highlighting the historical background of laws and regulations.
In Australia, the 2015 Migration Amendment Act revised the previous 1958 Migration Act and created rules to refuse
visa applications for those without a form of identification. This amendment also established strict policies regarding
unauthorized maritime arrivals. The government had been intercepting vessels with refugees and placing them in offshore
detention camps in Nauru and Papua New Guinea. Refugees have been experiencing poor living conditions in these
camps.
Our review of policies related to refugees suggests that Canada’s successful resettlement of Syrian refugees has been
mainly due to political commitment coupled with public support and community engagement, including the private
sponsorship of refugees. The involvement of these stakeholders has helped with resettling Syrian families and resulted in
their successful integration into Canadian society. Based on lessons learned in Canada, some key factors can be highlighted

32 International Journal of Population Studies | 2018, Volume 4, Issue 1