Refugees in Germany are most likely to find their way into the labour market via temporary work, according to data from the Institute for Employment Research (IAB).

The data shows that, in the fourth quarter of 2016, one in four temporary employment agencies had experience with refugees (job applications and interviews) who had arrived to Germany as of 2014.

Meanwhile, 13% of temporary employment agencies had entrusted refugees with work in Q4 2016, compared to 3.5% of the companies in the entire economy. Data from IAB showed that 16% of temporary work agencies also wanted to employ refugees, and 8% wanted to train them.

"From an operational point of view, insufficient knowledge of German is currently the main barrier for the employment of refugees,” the report stated. It also claimed that the professional qualifications of refugees is also an obstacle.

The IAB study is based on representative data from more than 11,500 companies surveyed in the fourth quarter of 2016.