Journey Effects? Waiting Periods in European Transit Countries and Subsequent Economic Integration of Refugees in Switzerland

Abstract

Refugees face difficult journeys to receiving countries. These journeys often include waiting periods in transit countries, as refugees plan and collect resources for the next leg of transit. Sociological theories of waiting suggest that longer sojourns in transit countries may hamper subsequent economic integration in receiving countries. However, studying the effect of journey duration on refugee economic integration is difficult due to data constraints and endogeneity issues. In this article, I leverage a natural experiment. For refugees who entered Switzerland through the European Refugee Relocation Program in 2016 and 2017, waiting periods for relocation from Greece and Italy varied quasi-randomly from three to 17 months. My analysis shows that longer waiting periods in European transit countries did not reduce subsequent labor market participation. However, female refugees who waited longer worked less after arrival than male refugees who had comparable waits. This gap is partially driven by a positive effect of wait times on labor market participation among male refugees. These conditional results have implications for understandings of asylum-seeker integration, the gendered risks and opportunities that arise during refugee journeys, and migration policy making.