From Syria to Turkey: Age-differentiated employment effects of forced migration on Syrian women

This thesis examines the impact of forced migration on the employment of Syrian refugee women in Turkey using retrospective data from the 2018 Turkey Demographic and Health Survey. Unlike studies in the literature that only compare refugees to the host country population, this research examines employment changes before and after displacement. Additionally, this research examines the varying effects across different age groups across all main and sub-analyses. It is found that migration to Turkey increased the employment rates of Syrian women, but the effects differed significantly by age. Women under 18 experienced the largest gains (6.7 percentage points), those aged 18-24 experienced moderate increases (2.3-5.3 percentage points), and women over 24 experienced minimal changes. Our analysis of three mechanisms explains this heterogeneity: household dependency ratios influence young women's employment decisions; regional labor market concentration benefits young migrants while disadvantaging older women through competition; and pre-migration work experience positively impacts all groups but is diminished for older women due to skill transferability issues. These findings highlight the mistreatment of refugee women as homogeneous and put an importance on the need for age-targeted integration policies.