Most Afghan and Syrian women in Austria remain out of work even after years in the country

For critics of Austria's refugee integration policy, the figures on women's employment are a central argument. The latest August labor-market data show unemployment rising across Austria, with the increase particularly pronounced among women, while migrant women in some groups already have very low employment rates.

Data from the Austrian Integration Fund and a research report on employment show a wide gap linked to both origin and time spent in Austria. About 113,000 Syrians and 48,000 Afghans currently live in the country. Men who arrived as refugees after 2015 generally took four to six years to reach majority employment. Women from Syria and Afghanistan, however, remained mostly outside employment even 10 years later.

The employment rate rose slowly before leveling off at a low level. After five years, 50% of Afghan men and 60% of Syrian men were employed. Among women, the figure after five years was only 10%. After nine years, employment reached 36.2% among Syrian women and 37.8% among Afghan women.

Those rates compare with 70.7% for women in Austria's total population. Women with a migration background recorded a rate of 64.3%, while the figure for women without a migration background was 73.7%.

The article points to Ukrainian women as an exception. Most adults displaced by the war in 2022 were women, and women made up 60% of the 88,000 Ukrainian citizens living in Austria in 2025. Two years after their arrival, 35% of Ukrainian women were employed in 2024. Turkish women have also recently improved their position, according to the description.