“You have to work…but you can’t!”: Contradictions of the Active Labour Market Policies for Refugees and Asylum Seekers in the UK

Abstract The discourse of deservingness has been mobilised against certain groups in the UK society navigating labour markets, among them refugees and asylum seekers. These discourses, leading to stigmatisation unemployed are coupled with an emphasis on importance individuals taking responsibility develop their ‘employability’. Little attention paid scrutinise contrast between rhetoric policy making actual conditions newcomers, particular seekers, confronted when seeking employment. Our paper fills such a gap by indicating key contradictions at heart market integration UK. On one hand, is discourses that construct environment shaped welfare chauvinism. other architecture fundamentally flawed number ways terms support mechanisms necessary ensure newcomers can successfully integrate into market.