(No) Longer Dependent: The Association between Reception and Civic Integration Policies and Social Assistance Dependency Among Refugees in the Netherlands

Abstract

We analysed how key aspects of refugees’ reception and civic integration experiences relate to their probability of exiting social assistance for employment in the Netherlands. We focused on the duration of stay in reception centres, relocations between centres, completion of the civic integration program, and the language level of the integration diploma. We used administrative data on approximately 95,000 refugees who received refugee residence permits between 2014 and 2022. We conducted robustness analyses using a cohort of approximately 21,000 Syrian refugees who received residence permits between 2014 and 2016 and representative survey data on 2,553 members of this cohort, which allowed us to control for pre-migration education and employment. Multilevel linear probability discrete-time survival models showed distinct gender patterns. Among men, the monthly hazard of exiting social assistance increased until approximately three years after housing and subsequently declined, whereas among women it increased gradually throughout the observation period. Prolonged stays in reception centres were associated with a lower hazard of employment among men, particularly among those who stayed for more than two years, and this disadvantage persisted over time. Among women, the differences by reception duration were small and inconsistent. Relocations had a small and temporary association with employment. Completing civic integration was strongly associated with labour market entry for men and women, and these differences remained substantial after five to six years after housing. B1- and B2-level integration diplomas were generally associated with a higher probability of exiting social assistance than A2-level diplomas.