Evaluation of an ambitious integration programme for newly arrived refugees – medium-term follow up

The aim of this project is to evaluate a newly designed and ambitious integration programme that was developed and put into effect in Gothenburg, Sweden. The purpose of the programme is to help newly arrived, low-educated refugees into employment. The main components of the programme are intense initial language training, work practice under close supervision and help with matching to a private employer.

The evaluation is based on a randomised experiment, in which potential participants in the programme in one of the starting waves were randomly assigned into treatment and control groups. In the past, we have followed the participants’ efforts at the Swedish Public Employment Service the first two years after the randomization. In this project, we study labour earnings and the need for social assistance four years after the randomisation. In addition, we conducted a survey with those who took part in the experiment. The questions asked were taken from The Immigration Policy Lab Integration Index developed at Stanford University and ETH-Zurich. The questions are designed to measure different dimensions of integration. These are divided into psychological, economic, political, social, linguistic and navigational integration.