Some consequences of the Gap

Like any other social or legal issue, the Gap comes with consequences. There are numerous health issues resulting from the Gap. Others are poverty and social exclusion. The effects of long-term unemployment have been studied in greater details on resettlement refugees’

overall health. As in the general population, employment significantly correlates with lower stress rates and lower rates of clinical mental well-being issues, and can lead to improved

294 E Ott, PDES/2013/16, 19-20.

physical health.²⁹⁵ However it is difficult to measure all the effects because the causal

mechanisms are not well-known.²⁹⁶ A 2013 study conducted in Finland concluded that long-term unemployment in early adulthood exceeding 500 days was associated with shorter Leukocyte Telomere Length (LTC) among men, than when employment was continuous.²⁹⁷ Shortened telomere are associated with tumours that can develop into various types of cancers.

Employment outcomes can be predicted based on, inter alia, refugee’s physical health and other demographic factors. Physical health correlated with employment in Australia among resettled refugees but studies on this relationship are significantly low.²⁹⁸ For example, after control of overlapping results, a random sample study on Russian, Somali and Hmong refugees in Minneapolis-St. Paul in the United States of America showed that gender, disability (a health factor), education and household composition correlated with economic outcomes.²⁹⁹

Empirically, studies have constantly shown that when persistent unemployment, marginalization and poverty become severe, a person can suffer from concentration problems and cannot focus beyond the immediate needs; work productivity and self-control are not only significantly reduced but are also eroded.³⁰⁰ Generally, long-term unemployment of one year or longer can have ‘scarring’ effects that might include sleep problems, feelings of shame and guilt, and serious health issues combined with reduced financial possibilities. People’s entire careers can be ruined, particularly in the young. In the United States of America, for example, the mortality rate among workers laid off for more than a year is over 50 per cent higher than the average.³⁰¹ It can thus be concluded that long-term unemployment is disastrous for peoples’

health. Poverty is a violation of human rights when: a) violation of non-poverty rights results into

295E Ott, PDES/2013/16 para 63.

296 Ibid.

297 L Ala-Mursula et al. ‘Long-Term Unemployment Is Associated with Short Telomeres in 31-Year-Old Men: An Observational Study in the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966’ (2013) 8 (11) PloS ONE (Tenth Anniversary) 1-8 <

http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0080094, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0080094 > accessed 14 September 2017.

298 E Ott, PDES/2013/16, 21.

299 E Ott, PDES/2013/16, 21.

300 S Markussen and K Røed, Leaving Poverty Behind? The Effects of Generous Income Support Paired with Activation (Institute of Labour Research, Discussion Paper Number 8245, 2014); E Clarence and M Peromingo, When Unemployment Becomes a Long-term Condition (World Association of Public Employment Services 2013) <

http://wapes.org/en/system/files/en-long-term_unemployment_2013.pdf > accessed 14 September 2017.

301 E Clarence and M Peromingo ibid.

poverty; b) poverty results into discriminating against, despising and disrespecting the victims of poverty (systematic exclusion of the poor from society) and; c) there is an absence of capabilities indicative of existence of a need.³⁰² This last interpretation is based on assumption that all human rights derive from the existence of certain human needs.³⁰³ It is even more dangerous when a person finds himself/herself at the edge of an abyss of poverty and exclusion.

2.5.1 Poverty and multiple exclusion

As has been noted, the Gap partly refers to the high levels of chronic or long-term unemployment among refugees and the gnawing lack of occupation attainment (upward work mobility both occupationally and geographically). It results in relative poverty that also leads to material deprivation (exclusion from consumption) and social exclusion. People who are

materially deprived and socially excluded frequently become liabilities to themselves, their families and society as a whole. A study in Norway, for instance, studied poverty rates by studying (a) changes in the share of individuals going into poverty (entry rates) and (b) changes in the share of individuals leaving poverty (exit rates).³⁰⁴ It was found that the probability of immigrants from Asia, Africa and South America to remain in poverty for more than two consecutive years was about 55-60 per cent. The corresponding entry rate was about 6-10 per cent. Among the native population, only about 40 per cent remained in poverty over a period of two consecutive years and the entry rate was about 1 per cent. The study also showed that dependence on State support was substantial and was estimated to be 20.3-26.8 per cent for the same population of immigrants. The estimates imply that if any randomly chosen group of

immigrants is poor one year, the probability of being poor the following year increases by 20.3 to 26.8 percentage points.³⁰⁵ Refugees unintentionally become the ‘new undeserving poor’, seen as deserving less compared to other needy groups like the elderly, the disabled, or the unemployed

302 T Campbell, ‘Poverty as a Violation of Human Rights: Inhumanity or Injustice?’ in P Alston, R Goodman and HJ Steiner (eds), International Human Rights in Context: Law, Politics, Moral (3rd edn OUP 2007) 310.

303 T Campbell, ibid.

304 M Bhuller and EE Brandsås, ‘Fattigdomsdynamikk blant innvandrere: En empirisk analyse for perioden 1993-2011’ (Rapporter 40/2013, SSB, Oslo-Kongsvinger September 2013) (Povert Dynamism among Immigrants: An Empirical Analysis for the Period 1993-2011) (Statistics Norway, Reports 40/2013, Septmeber 2013). Summary in English is available on page 5.

305Ibid 5.

[natives].³⁰⁶ Principles of welfare redistribution according to merit, need and equality are thus challenged because as a quid pro quo, benefits should be preceded by work and taxes paid by the recipient.³⁰⁷

2.5.2 Loss of social status, ‘brain waste’ and academic derelicts

One seminal paper concluded that the higher one’s former occupation status, the worse the subjective experience with adjustment.³⁰⁸ The situation of Iraqi refugees resettled globally has been highlighted a case where people have experienced a ‘stark decrease in socio-economic status and relative earnings’ compared to their former lives in Iraq.³⁰⁹ In Alberta, Canada, another study revealed that 39 per cent of refugees worked in professional or managerial

positions in their countries of origin; after resettlement the figure was only 7 per cent.³¹⁰ The rest were in blue collar jobs or in clerical, sales, services and technicians’ positions. Another study on Eritrean, Ethiopian, Iraqi and Sudanese refugees in Australia found a higher percentage with qualifications greater than their employment warranted and above the level of Australian-born colleagues.³¹¹ A 2007 survey in Iceland showed that of all the refugees resettled between 1956 and 2003, only 260 remained there. The 62 people surveyed said their occupations had not built on their previous work in their countries of origin; 28 of them were now unskilled workers, compared to 11 who were unskilled before moving to Iceland.³¹² The conclusion was that in general, refugees become occupationally immobile and lose social status, which in turn psychologically affects them because of their employment in unskilled or semi-skilled jobs.³¹³ On the issue of lower status jobs available after resettlement, another research indicates that ‘a

306 T Reeskens and W van Oorschot, ‘Disentangling the ‘‘New Liberal Dilemma’’: On the Relation between General Welfare Redistribution Preferences and Welfare Chauvinism’ (2012) 53 (2) International Journal of Comparative Sociology 121.

307 Ibid 132.

308 BN Stein, ‘Occupational Adjustment of Refugees: the Vietnamese in the United States’ (1979) 13 (1) International Migration Review 25 in E Ott, PDES/2013/16 para 49.

309 E Ott, PDES/2013/16 para 52.

310 E Ott, PDES/2013/16 para 49.

311 V Colic-Peisker and F Tilbury, ‘Employment Niches for Recent Refugees: Segmented Labour Market in Twenty-First Century Australia’ (2006) 19 (2) Journal of Refugee Studies 203-229 in E Ott, PDES/2013/16 para 50.

312 Ministry of Social Affairs 2007, 6 in E Ott, PDES/2013/16 para 47.

313 E Ott, PDES/2013/16, 15.

massive loss of occupational status seems to be endemic’.³¹⁴ The prevalence of

underemployment in all refugee communities irrespective of education has been referred to as

‘brain-waste’.³¹⁵ Refugees become academic derelicts.