Refugees who are given access to the labour market and are allowed to work after completing their asylum procedure are entitled to receive Citizen’s Income under the Social Code II (SGB II). They are then looked after by the job centres. The exception to this rule are the Ukrainian refugees, who receive immediate access to SGB II due to the “Mass Influx Directive”.
Those who are new to Germany as refugees face many challenges. The language has to be learnt and school and professional qualifications have to be recognised. Further training or qualification may be necessary. The job centres provide support with these steps. Language is of particular importance. People therefore take integration courses and receive additional vocational language training if necessary. Currently, 208,000 people looked after by the job centres are attending integration courses.
In 2022, the job centres looked after an average of 571,000 people of working age, i.e. persons entitled to benefits and capable of working, from non-European countries of asylum origin. These are the countries from which most people fled to Germany in 2015 and 2016: Afghanistan, Eritrea, Iraq, Iran, Nigeria, Pakistan, Somalia and Syria. In 2012, this figure was only 105,000. At the same time, the number of employed people from countries of asylum origin increased from 81,000 in 2012 to 568,000 in 2022. A similar picture emerges among the trainees. In 2012, 2,500 young people from these countries were in education, compared with 44,000 in 2022.
A comprehensive range of data from the BA’s statistics can be found here:
https://statistik.arbeitsagentur.de/DE/Navigation/Statistiken/Themen-im-Fokus/Migration/Migration-Nav.html