Project title

Policies That Work? Evaluating Dutch Integration Policies for Refugees’ Labour Market Participation

Research question

How do Dutch integration policies affect refugees’ labour market participation, and which refugee groups benefit or are hindered by specific policy designs?

Project description

Over the past decade, humanitarian migration to the Netherlands has increased sharply as a result of global conflicts, bringing with it a large and distinct refugee population that faces unique integration challenges. Refugees often experience delayed labour market entry, mental health risks, and limited career preparation — factors that contribute to persistently weaker employment outcomes compared to other migrant groups. Despite the central role of labour market participation in Dutch integration policy, surprisingly little is known about how specific policy designs actually shape these outcomes.

Meta van der Linden examines how different integration approaches, particularly “work-first” versus “train-first” strategies, affect refugees’ labour market participation, and investigates for which refugee groups each approach is most effective. In addition to integration policy, the project also considers how factors such as language proficiency, time spent in reception centres, and the strength of social networks shape unequal outcomes across the refugee population.

Drawing on interdisciplinary theory and combining administrative and survey data, it analyses both short- and long-term employment outcomes, including job stability and earnings with the aim of producing evidence that can directly inform more effective and equitable integration policy.

Selected publications

  • van der Linden, M., & Dagevos, J. (2024). Policy variation and refugee integration: A natural experiment comparing the effects of local integration programs. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 51(1), 24–49. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2024.2376210.
  • van der Linden, M., Politi, E., & Dangubić, M. (2026). The ties that bind and break: A natural experiment on the role of (in)stability in local and transnational social ties for loneliness among refugees. Journal of Refugee Studies, 39(1), 265-277. https://doi.org/10.1093/jrs/feaf064.
  • Damen, R., van der Linden, M., Dagevos, J., & Huijnk, W. (2022). About but not without: Recently arrived refugees’ understanding of and expectations for integration within a local policy context in the Netherlands. Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies, 22(2), 278–290. https://doi.org/10.1080/15562948.2021.2023720.