Research and analysis

How many hours do refugees work?

Published 27 November 2025

Applies to England and Wales

The Home Office and Office for National Statistics have linked Home Office refugee data to the HMRC PAYE-RTI (Pay As You Earn Real Time Information) dataset.

The PAYE-RTI dataset includes the numbers of hours worked per week of employees (provided by employers). We have grouped them as follows:

• part-time hours—less than 30 hours worked per week
• full-time hours—30 hours or more worked per week
• no regular pattern—no regular working hours each week (for example, seasonal work)

These statistics only refer to those who were in employment. If there was a PAYE-RTI entry for a year, we considered an individual to be in employment. If there was no PAYE-RTI entry for a year, we considered the individual to not be in employment for that year. Note that those considered unemployed may include those who are not able to work due to disability or long-term illness and would otherwise be considered economically inactive. PAYE-RTI can only tell us about employment. It cannot tell us about self-employment. If someone did not have a record in the PAYE-RTI dataset, we considered them not employed but that does not necessarily mean they were not working. Refer to ‘How many refugees are in employment?’ for employment rates.

The groups covered by the statistics shown here were:

• refugees who were granted asylum in the period 2015 to 2023
• refugees who were resettled into the UK under the Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme (VPRS) and Vulnerable Children’s Resettlement Scheme (VCRS)
• refugees who were resettled to the UK under the UK Resettlement Scheme (UKRS)
• refugees who were resettled to the UK under the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS) Pathway 2

These groups represent a subset of refugees in England and Wales and findings from this study should not be used to make inferences about the wider refugee population or those granted other forms of protection. Official statistics on asylum and resettled refugees are available in regularly published Home Office Asylum and resettlement datasets.

Further information and demographic breakdowns of the groups covered in these statistics are included in About this release.

1. How do working patterns change with increasing time in the UK?

Figure 1: Number of hours worked per week by employed people aged 16 to 64 years granted refugee status in the period 2015 to 2023 by number of years since being granted refugee status, England and Wales

Source: Home Office VPRS, VCRS, and asylum refugee data linked to HMRC PAYE-RTI data, the Refugee Integration Outcomes (RIO) Project

Notes:

1. n = 75,750 unique individuals who obtained employment in the period 2015 to 2023.

Of refugees who were granted refugee status in England and Wales between 2015 and 2023 and found employment in the same year, 63% did not work a regular pattern of hours per week, 23% worked full-time hours (30 hours or more per week), and 14% worked part-time hours (less than 30 hours per week).

As time in the UK progressed, the proportion of refugees in employment who worked full-time hours increased to 37% for those who had been in the UK for 8 years. There was a corresponding decrease over time in the proportion of those who did not work a regular pattern of hours to 48%.

There was no notable variation in the proportion of people who worked part-time hours with increasing time since grant of refugee status.

2. How do working patterns change over time for different cohorts?

Figure 2: Number of hours worked per week by employed people aged 16 to 64 years granted refugee status in the period 2015 to 2023 by number of years since being granted refugee status and arrival route, England and Wales

Source: Home Office VPRS, VCRS, and asylum refugee data linked to HMRC PAYE-RTI data, the Refugee Integration Outcomes (RIO) Project

Notes:

1. n = 72,615 unique asylum refugees and 3,140 unique resettled refugees who obtained employment in the period 2015 to 2023.

There was an increase in the proportion of full-time working and a corresponding decrease in the proportion of those working with no regular pattern of hours with increasing time since being granted refugee status for asylum refugees. There was no notable change in the proportion who worked part-time hours.

Resettled refugees were also more likely to have no regular pattern of work, regardless of the number of years spent in the UK and did not show as significant an uptake in full-time employment over time.

Resettled refugees also more commonly worked part-time compared to asylum refugees.

3. How do working patterns change for men and women over time?

Figure 3: Number of hours worked per week by employed people aged 16 to 64 years granted refugee status in the period 2015 to 2023 by number of years since being granted refugee status and sex, England and Wales

Source: Home Office VPRS, VCRS, and asylum refugee data linked to HMRC PAYE-RTI data, the Refugee Integration Outcomes (RIO) Project

Notes:

1. n = 16,410 women and 59,345 men, unique individuals who obtained employment in the period 2015 to 2023.

For both men and women, the proportion of those working full-time gradually increased to 37%, 8 years after being granted refugee status, while the number working no regular pattern of hours decreased. There was little variation in the proportion working part-time, though a higher percentage of women worked part-time than men.

4. How do working patterns change in different age groups over time?

Figure 4: Number of hours worked per week by employed people aged 16 to 64 years granted refugee status in the period 2015 to 2023 by number of years since being granted refugee status and age category, England and Wales

Source: Home Office VPRS, VCRS, and asylum refugee data linked to HMRC PAYE-RTI data, the Refugee Integration Outcomes (RIO) Project

Those aged 16 to 44 years saw steady progress into full-time work with increasing time, however the transition was less pronounced for those aged 45 to 64 years.

Increases in full-time working with increasing time since grant of refugee status came with a corresponding decrease in the proportions of those not working a regular pattern of hours across all age groups.

The proportion of people working part-time hours remained consistent with increasing time since grant of refugee status for both age categories.

5. How have working patterns changed for different nationalities?

Figure 5: Number of hours worked per week by employed people aged 16 to 64 years granted refugee status in the period 2015 to 2023 by number of years since being granted refugee status and nationality, England and Wales

Source: Home Office VPRS, VCRS, and asylum refugee data linked to HMRC PAYE-RTI data, the Refugee Integration Outcomes (RIO) Project

Notes:

1. Only the top 9 nationalities by count are represented here.
2. n = 5,890 Afghanistan, 1,320 Albania, 8,585 Eritrea, 13,710 Iran, 3,320 Iraq, 3,735 Pakistan, 3,130 Sri Lanka, 7,060 Sudan, 8,080 Syria, unique individuals who obtained employment in the period 2015 to 2023.

There was considerable variation in the extent to which refugees of different nationalities worked full-time, and their rates of progression into full-time work.

Refugees from Eritrea had the largest proportion of people working full-time hours 8 years after grant of refugee status at 50%. Notably, Eritrea was the only nationality in which the largest proportion were working full-time hours, by the fifth year after being granted refugee status.

Refugees from Afghanistan had the smallest proportion of people working full-time hours at 25% for those in employment 8 years after grant of refugee status. There were more refugees from Afghanistan not working regular hours compared with any other nationality at 63% for those in employment 8 years later.