Foreign women: Even ten years later, many are unemployed
New figures from the Austrian Integration Fund (ÖIF) show that many female refugees from Syria and Afghanistan remain outside Austria’s workforce years after arriving in the country.
The ÖIF found that only 24 percent of refugees from Syria, Afghanistan, and Iraq were employed among women, compared with 56 percent of men from the same countries. By comparison, employment rates were considerably higher among people with migration backgrounds from Turkey and the former Yugoslavia.
The gap remains significant even after several years in Austria. After five years, only around 10 percent of Syrian and Afghan women were employed, while employment among men from the same groups had reached 50 percent for Afghans and 60 percent for Syrians.
After nine years, employment among Syrian women had risen to 36.2 percent and to 37.8 percent among Afghan women. However, these figures remained far below the employment rate of women in Austria overall, which stood at 70.7 percent, and women with a migration background, at 64.3 percent.
The data also shows a significant difference compared with Ukrainian female refugees. Around 35 percent of Ukrainian women who arrived as war refugees were already employed within two years of arriving in Austria.
There are also more positive developments among women from Turkey. Their overall employment rate reached 63 percent in 2023, while half of recently arrived Turkish women were reportedly employed just one year after arriving.
The ÖIF data further indicates that Afghan women are entering the Austrian labor market faster than Syrian women. Afghan women also participate in AMS (Public Employment Service Austria) courses more frequently than Afghan men, highlighting differences in the pace of labor-market integration between refugee groups.