Center for Migration Studies: Meeting the Moment: Lessons Learned from Asylum Seeker Workforce Integration in New York City

The Center for Migration Studies of New York (CMS) is pleased to announce the release of a new report examining the experiences of asylum seekers who arrived in New York City beginning in 2022 as they navigated entry into the City's workforce, along with lessons learned from the City's unprecedented response.

Using data from the 2024 American Community Survey, expert interviews, and asylum seeker focus groups, the report examines the legal, economic, and structural barriers that limited workforce integration despite asylum seekers' education, skills, and willingness to work. It also explores the challenges of obtaining work authorization, accessing employment, and navigating life in New York while offering recommendations to strengthen legal support, streamline work authorization, expand language access and childcare, and improve coordination among government agencies and community organizations.

As policymakers continue to debate the nation's immigration system, the report provides timely, evidence-based recommendations to better prepare communities for future humanitarian arrivals while supporting newcomers on the path to self-sufficiency.