Refugee joblessness 'needs tackling'

By Dominic Casciani
BBC News Online community affairs reporter

Des Browne: New initiatives for refugees

Government must do more to help refugees work because they are six times more likely to be unemployed, a minister has said.

Minister for work Des Browne said research found it was taking too long to get refugees off welfare.

Up to half of the refugees in the UK have professional skills.

But language barriers and lack of specialist support meant not enough of those able to work had found jobs.

Under current rules, asylum seekers are banned from seeking work until their cases are accepted as genuine. But once given refugee status or leave to remain, an individual can - and is expected - to seek work.

'Moral responsibility'

Speaking to refugee employment experts, Mr Browne said: "If the government takes the decision to accept a person as a refugee, we should accept responsibility for helping them settle here.

The danger is that unless we help at this early stage when they are most motivated to make a new start, they will remain outside of our help. Des Browne

"We have a moral responsibility to do so and that is what we are doing."

Research for the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has found one in three refugees were unemployed, even though half had been in professional work such as teaching or engineering in their home countries.

Four out of 10 had English language problems with a third never having attended a course.

"Getting refugees into work is something we take very seriously," said the minister.

"Some have skills that we desperately need in this country. But many also have little or no education and will struggle in our labour market. English language problems affect almost all of them, regardless of their skill level.

"We accept they face considerable barriers to employment and we want to do something about that."

NHS progress

Mr Browne said the sector where the most progress had been made was in healthcare. A joint British Medical Association and Refugee Council scheme had identified some 900 unemployed doctors and sought to fast-track as many as possible into NHS jobs.

REFUGEE DOCTORS We promised we'd get 10 doctors through and into the NHS in a year - we got 46 through Dr Nayeem Azim Training the refugee doctors

A similar network to identify refugee nurses who are not working has so far found 300 living in London.

"Refugees need much clearer messages about work, how to find it, how to apply for it, what skills they need, academic or vocational," said Mr Browne.

"With a little help they can find work and well. That brings big potential wins for everyone - the refugees, communities they live in, employers and the government."

Government critics say there are two barriers preventing refugees finding work: a lack of English language tuition and bureaucratic delays preventing people settling.

Although he would not comment on asylum system delays, Mr Browne said it was essential government helped refugees as soon as they were given settled status.

"The danger is that unless we help at this early stage when they are most motivated to make a new start, they will remain outside of our help.

"We need to co-ordinate our services better when refugees first receive permission to remain, so we do not lose them in the early days."

Speaking to the Employability Forum, an independent umbrella body which aims to get refugees into work, Mr Browne said the government had launched a raft of projects to improve the situation.

The projects include a pilot of intensive employment preparation and support for refugees in north London and from January 2004 more specialist advisers within job centres.