6 Ways Refugees Benefit Economies

As Europe continues to struggle with what is quite clearly the worst refugee crisis seen in decades, there appears to be a growing consensus that refugees are little more than a burden on their host nations and economies.

Although there has not been a great deal of conclusive research conducted on the subject of refugees and how they may benefit economies, there is some data to suggest that this may be the case.

Sergey Brin of Google, Yahoo’s Jerry Yang, and former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright are just a few examples of dynamic and innovative refugees who have provided massive benefits to their host economies.

Nevertheless, even unskilled and semi-skilled refugees come with their own benefits to offer.

Michael Clemens, a senior fellow who leads the Migration and Development Initiative at the Center for Global Development in Washington says, “There’s not any credible research that I know of that in the medium and long term that refugees are anything but a hugely profitable investment. There is a myth … that desirable immigrants are the ones with PhDs, and people with high school degrees aren’t desirable. And there’s no economic substance behind that myth.”

In this article we are going to look at six ways in which refugees can actually be of some benefit to their host economies.

While this is not always the case, many refugees – such as those fleeing the Syrian conflict, for example – bringing with them a great deal of skills and expertise in particular trades.

A counter argument to this would be that bringing in skilled labour from foreign sources could reduce the demand for home-grown workers.

However, in situations where there is a current shortage of a particular skill set or knowledge base this could prove highly beneficial to local and national businesses and infrastructures.

Whenever a population grows consumption and the demand for goods and services will always increase, regardless of where the population growth stems from.