Week of possibilities: Discover opportunities for refugees in Berlin!

Week of possibilities: Discover opportunities for refugees in Berlin!

Berlin, Deutschland - Today, on June 18, 2025, the “Week of Possibilities” in Berlin, an initiative of the Jobcenter Berlin Lichtenberg, Mitte, Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg and Marzahn-Hellersdorf begin. This week is opened with two campaign days: The “Day of Possibilities” takes place in the Job Center Berlin Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg. At the same time, a “Market of Possibilities” is organized in the Berlin Lichtenberg Job Center, together with Jobcenter Berlin Marzahn-Hellersdorf. The conclusion of this action week is planned for June 25, 2025 in the JobCenter Berlin Mitte with another "Day of Possibilities" on Leopoldplatz.

The target group of this initiative is primarily people with escape or migration experience. This event offers the opportunity to have personal discussions with employers, educational institutions and consultants, and is intended to facilitate access to jobs. Cansel Kiziltepe, Senator of Labor, emphasizes the existing hurdles when accessing the labor market for this group. In particular, Andreas Peikert, Managing Director of the Job Center Berlin Marzahn-Hellersdorf, emphasizes the importance of discussions and participation in this context to improve the situation of those affected.

Current labor market numbers and challenges

The situation on the labor market shows that in May 2025 there are around 218,000 people in Berlin without work, which corresponds to an increase of 19,000 compared to the previous year. People without completed vocational training are particularly affected; Nationwide, every fifth person in this group is unemployed. For people with a history of migration, additional hurdles such as lack of language skills and lengthy recognition procedures are challenges. Studies show that access to the labor market is decisive for economic independence, the relief of the welfare state and the reduction of demographic change.

As part of the current discussion about labor market access for refugees, an analysis shows that the labor market integration of asylum seekers during the wave of immigration brought various challenges between 2013 and 2016. Institutional changes have now been made to accelerate this access, but integration into the labor market tends to take longer for many asylum seekers than for other groups of immigrants. In many cases, people who submitted and remained asylum application between 2013 and 2016 find access to work faster.

success factors and development opportunities

Most of the asylum seekers at that time already had professional experience, but many acquired their qualifications abroad. In Germany, many refugees work in professions with lower qualification requirements. Future developments in the labor market could be supported by measures for (further) qualification, such as through vocational training or study. Participation in voice and integration courses has been funded by legal regulations in recent years and shows high participation rates among refugees.

An interesting development is that companies, in particular larger, see more opportunities in the employment of refugees. For example, in 2020 almost every fourth company employed refugees, primarily in the hospitality industry. Nevertheless, there are concerns about linguistic barriers and formally not recognized qualifications.

The data on the labor market shows that unemployment, employment and SGB II aid rates are important indicators for the integration of immigrants. The unemployment rate for foreigners in December 2022 was 13.9%, while SGB II aid rate for foreigners was 22.3%. Such statistics illustrate the challenges with which refugee people are faced with and the need to advance structural improvements.

For further information and data on the labor market integration of refugees and migrants, see berlin.de href = "https://www.bpb.de/themen/arbeitsmarktpolitik/501977/ArbeitsMARKtintegration-von-gefluechten/"> bpb.de and statistik.arbeitsagentur.de .