Help wanted

Economy | America in recession is doubly hard on its new arrivals | Jamie Dean

Nanine Hartzenbusch/Genesis Photos

HIGH POINT, N.C.—When Fatima Yaseen interviewed for a job at one of two Wal-Mart stores in High Point, N.C., she faced stiff competition: At least 56 other people applied for the entry-level position in the town of 100,000. Yaseen didn't get the job.

Finding a job can be difficult in a state with an 8.7 percent unemployment rate, but Yaseen has an added challenge: She's an Iraqi refugee, a mother of nine, and she's lived in the United States for just four months.

Yaseen is one of some 60,000 refugees that the United States admitted last year. Nearly 14,000 of those refugees were from Iraq. The State Department says that it plans to admit at least another 17,000 Iraqi refugees this year.

That's good news for those fleeing abuse, persecution, and death threats in their native countries. But coming to America isn't easy for refugees, especially if they lack English or job skills. And now new refugees face another dynamic: an economic downturn affecting the entire country. As the unemployment rate rises and the number of refugees goes up—especially among Iraqis—settling in America grows more difficult for an already vulnerable group, and the work gets harder for those trying to assist them.