Labour market inclusion of international protection applicants and beneficiaries

Abstract

This paper discusses the labour market inclusion of international protection applicants and beneficiaries with a special focus on the Czech Republic. The issue of letting the asylum seekers and refuges to enter the labour markets of the Members States freely and without obstacles constitutes a hot-debated topic in the EU and differs from country to country. One can say that this topic was taken out of context and exploited during the recent Brexit campaign that resulted in an unexpected “leave” vote that shocked the United Kingdom. The migration card was played mainly for political reasons. However, most people forget that almost 3 million people born in the UK currently reside in other EU countries (which is about the same amount as the number of people born in other EU countries living in the UK. The Czech Republic is a different story altogether. It represents a typical immigration country with all its characteristic features, yet the nature of the incoming migration. The analysis of the provisions and regimes in the Czech Republic shows that the country (similar to most of the EU Member States) is not very attractive for asylum seekers in general but those international protection applicants who chose to go there, do this on purpose as a part of their carefully planned migration strategy. The structure and the mix of asylum seekers in the Czech Republic seem to prove this postulate