Integration of Venezuelan Refugees and Migrants in Brazil
An unprecedented number of Venezuelans have left behind the worsening economic and social crisis at home to look for better future prospects. Brazil is hosting about 261,000 Venezuelans as migrants, asylum seekers, or refugees, which, at 18 percent...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2021
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/498351617118028819/Integration-of-Venezuelan-Refugees-and-Migrants-in-Brazil http://hdl.handle.net/10986/35358 |
| Summary: | An unprecedented number of Venezuelans
have left behind the worsening economic and social crisis at
home to look for better future prospects. Brazil is hosting
about 261,000 Venezuelans as migrants, asylum seekers, or
refugees, which, at 18 percent, constitutes the largest
share of Brazil’s 1.3 million refugees and migrants
population (as of October 2020). Although previous
literature on other host countries found that Venezuelan
refugees and migrants are struggling to secure high-paying
jobs that are commensurate with their education, little is
known about their access to education and social protection.
This paper fills this gap by analyzing various
administrative and census data to explore whether Venezuelan
migrants and refugees face differential access to education,
the formal labor market and social protection programs. It
finds that even though there is minimum legal constraints
and work permits are relatively easy to obtain, Venezuelan
refugees and migrants face challenges integrating into the
education system, social protection programs and the formal
labor market. The results suggest that Venezuelan refugees
and migrants have faced downgrading in grades at school and
occupations at work. They are more likely to attend
overcrowded schools than their host community counterparts
and more likely to do inferior jobs characterized by
temporality, lower wages and higher hours worked. Overall,
the results suggest that improvement in school capacity,
accreditation of Venezuelan education or degrees and
relocation to places with favorable employment opportunities
may facilitate integration. |
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