(image: Yonhap)
SEOUL, Dec. 28 (Korea Bizwire) — A recent study has argued that accepting refugees en masse can incur short-term financial risk, but helps economic growth in the long run.
Park Bok-yeong, a professor at Kyunghee University’s Graduate School of International Studies, claimed that despite the short-term financial risk that comes with an inflow of refugees, the costs of managing refugees who have settled in a country are in fact minimal.
For instance, the EU Commission showed that even Sweden, with the heaviest financial burden among all EU states for refugee acceptance, only used 0.9 percent of its GDP for refugee acceptance programs.
Other member states have been estimated to use from 0.1 percent to 0.6 percent of GDP to accept refugees. Park argued that the positive role of refugees in economic growth outweighs short-term financial costs.
“The recent inflow of refugees led to 0.1 percent to 0.2 percent additional economic growth in the EU,” said Park.
“In the case of Germany, accepting the most number of refugees among all EU states has led to 0.4 percent to 0.8 percent additional growth in the economy.”
Park also claimed that refugees can contribute significantly to resolving labor issues in advanced countries where low-skilled workers are in constant demand, recommending a robust policy to swiftly integrate refugees into South Korea’s labor market.
“Accepting refugees, in the long term, will help the economy,” said Park.
H. M. Kang (hmkang@koreabizwire.com)
