One in Five of Germany’s Ukrainian Refugees Has Found a Job

One-fifth of the refugees who have settled in Germany after fleeing Ukraine report that they have found employment. This is a finding from a survey the ifo Institute conducted among 1,461 Ukrainian refugees for the EconPol Europe research network. Of those employed, over half say they are working below their formal qualifications. “The willingness of Ukrainian refugees to work is very high. Only very few are not interested in finding a job,” says ifo researcher Tetyana Panchenko.

The majority of respondents want to stay in Germany for another two years. This proportion has actually increased compared to the first survey of Ukrainian refugees conducted in June. A good third of the respondents plan to return to Ukraine, which is a decrease from the June survey, when it was just under half.

The new survey confirms the findings of the initial June survey, according to which most Ukrainians in Germany are of working age, have a good formal education, and were employed in Ukraine.

The ifo Institute conducted the first round of the survey in June and the second in October 2022. Respondents were approached through social media. Both survey rounds were conducted independently with separate groups of respondents. The samples are not statistically representative because participants were recruited as a random sample as well as through snowball sampling.