Jobcenter Dresden starts new project to integrate migrants!

Jobcenter Dresden starts new project to integrate migrants!

Something is happening in the heart of Dresden: The job center has started looking for partners for a new job opportunity project. The focus is on women with a migrant background who are at least 25 years old and able to work. The women affected come from countries such as Afghanistan, Eritrea, Iraq, Iran, Nigeria, Pakistan, Somalia and Syria and have German language skills at level A1, which is often associated with the need to apply for citizenship benefits. The aim of the project is to give these women their first professional experience, improve their language skills and offer them social participation. The Dresden Integration Action Plan is actively supported by this project.

Interested providers, be they migration social work institutions, providers of subsidized employment or associations, are cordially invited to contact us by September 30, 2025. You are expected to submit a short concept of a maximum of ten pages, which contains essential points such as project description, location, areas of activity, expected results and a rough cost calculation. An important aspect is the activation of the participants outside of their living environment as well as planned collaborations with other institutions. If you are interested, you can contact us at Jobcenter-Dresden.bereich4@jobcenter-ge.de report (password: “Project call AGH 16d SGB II”).

Challenges for women

But what are the biggest hurdles on the way to labor market integration? A current study by the Institute for Labor Market and Occupational Research (IAB) shows that poor language skills, unusable qualifications and traditional gender roles are the biggest obstacles. The employability of refugee women is often made even more difficult by family care obligations. These challenges illustrate why targeted support in the form of language and qualification measures is necessary. One of the central tasks of job centers and authorities is to support these women in general and professional language acquisition in order to promote their social integration. Because without sufficient language skills, career advancement or even training qualifications are hardly conceivable.

The women who could take part in the project are often in direct competition with other migrant groups in terms of the competitive situation on the labor market. It is therefore crucial to monitor the effectiveness of labor market policy measures specifically for this target group and, if necessary, to develop new approaches to better support these women.

The context for integration

Access to work for refugees has made significant progress in recent years, especially with regard to the reforms between 2013 and 2016. Even though a large proportion of asylum seekers who applied between 2013 and 2016 found access to the labor market, the trend also shows that integration often takes longer than for other immigrant groups. This not only affects language difficulties, but also the devaluation of qualifications acquired in the country of origin. Many refugees often work in jobs that are far below their qualification level.

It remains to be hoped that the new job center project in Dresden will provide the necessary impetus to integrate more women into the labor market and thus make a valuable contribution to society. Because, as a survey from the IAB shows, the majority of respondents have high expectations of their economic integration. Support through language support and qualification is essential for this.