Many Ukrainians want to stay

According to a survey, more than half of the approximately one million Ukrainians who fled to Germany as a result of Russia's war of aggression against their country want to stay. Whether Ukrainians want to return depends largely on how the war progresses and the economic situation in Ukraine. This is the result of a study presented on Monday by the Media Service Integration in Berlin.

For the study, over 3,400 people were surveyed between July 2023 and January 2024. The analysis was prepared jointly by the Institute for Employment Research (IAB), the Research Center of the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF-FZ) and the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin). Specifically, the living situation and participation of Ukrainian refugees were examined.

Three quarters of Ukrainian refugees are women, 76 percent of whom have children. The proportion of men has recently increased slightly from 22 to 25 percent. This is leading to a stabilization of many families, says Sabine Zinn of the DIW. There has also been progress in the school situation: the majority of Ukrainian students are taught in regular German classes, only 16 percent still attend special classes in which they are primarily supposed to learn German.

However, Ukrainian children disproportionately attend middle and secondary schools, which indicates that some are not being taught according to their ability level. There is a need for action here to ensure more equal opportunities, says Zinn.

Increasingly improving German skills

According to the study, in the second half of 2023, 70 percent of refugees had completed an integration course or were taking one. Their German language skills had improved significantly: only 12 percent said they had no German language skills at all (compared to 78 percent at the time of entry).

There are hurdles, especially for women with small children: "For an even more successful acquisition of German, continuous childcare and flexible course formats, especially in the context of professional language courses, are of particular importance," says Nina Rother, head of the Integration Research Field at the BAMF-FZ.

There is still room for improvement when it comes to work : 22 percent of Ukrainian refugees were employed in 2023. The longer Ukrainians are in Germany, the more often they work. More than half of them do work that is below their last job in their home country.

Yuliya Kosyakova from the IAB criticizes the fact that, in view of demographic change and the shortage of skilled workers in Germany, Ukrainian refugees should be better integrated into the labor market. This would also improve planning security for the refugees. Flexible working hours, support in learning the language, early labor market and career advice, and the expansion of childcare services could accelerate the integration of Ukrainian refugees into the German labor market.

"Another building block is the reduction of bureaucracy in the recognition of foreign qualifications and corresponding support in obtaining information," says Kosyakova. Whether Ukrainians find work also depends largely on their personal social networks: 51 percent found out about job vacancies primarily from German friends and acquaintances.

There are still hurdles for Ukrainians

Nataliia Lichkonenko is one of the people who fled Ukraine in 2022. She now lives in Bavaria. In Ukraine, she worked as an engineer and lecturer for 25 years. Her qualifications were recognized in Germany, but she cannot find a job in her field, she says. In Germany, she works as a language and cultural mediator between other Ukrainian refugees and German authorities. "We are worried about housing security because there is such high demand," says Lichkonenko.

Other challenges include bureaucratic hurdles and misunderstandings about education, insurance and taxes. She does not yet know if and when she will return to Ukraine. Her eleven-year-old son has integrated well here and speaks better German than she does. When asked about the migration debate in Germany, she says that the mood has changed compared to when the war began. Studies show, says Kosyakova, that local anti-migrant sentiments lead to low levels of integration into the labor market.