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Minimum wage may handicap refugee integration into German labor market: Ifo

Xinhua, October 28, 2015 Adjust font size:

The minimum wage will very probably be a barrier to refugees' successful integration into the German labor market, research group Ifo institute said Tuesday.

Almost 50 percent of refugees from Syria do not have a basic level of education, based on figures from Turkish refugee camps and international test results, according to Ifo researchers.

Ifo researchers cited data as saying that 50 percent of immigrants to Germany earned less than current minimum wage over the past five years, and that the unemployment rate among migrants, who have lived in Germany for five years or less, was also higher than the national average.

The Munich-based think tank believes that it would be counterproductive and not advisable to make a minimum wage exception for refugees. Instead, the minimum wage should rather be abolished for all employees.

"Reforms are urgently needed," noted Ifo, whose business climate index is considered the most important barometer for the German economy. Endit