Refugee flows are increasingly structural rather than temporary, and while most refugees remain in neighbouring low- and middle-income countries, evidence from high-income settings shows that early, well-sequenced integration policies make a decisive difference. Granting swift access to work, investing in language training and job matching, and aligning placement with labour market demand can turn short-term fiscal pressures into long-term economic gains for both refugees and host economies.

Providing migrants working rights and social benefits has minimal impacts on local labour markets

The return of Yugoslavian refugees from Germany in the 1990s explains the stronger performance of exports to the rest of the world in industries where they were employed while abroad

Migration, particularly skilled migration, is a driver of knowledge diffusion and it can induce productivity shifts as measured by new exports