The labor market integration of Syrian refugees in Turkey

•We use the 2018 round of the Turkey Demographic and Health Survey, which includes a representative sample of Syrian refugees in Turkey for the first time, to examine their labor market integration.•After accounting for differences in demographic characteristics, the native-refugee gap in paid employment is small: 4.7 percentage points (pp) for men and 4.0 pp for women.•The native–refugee gap in men’s paid employment narrows sharply within the first year of residence, after which little gap remains. By contrast, the gap for women persists over time.•Even after accounting for the covariates, refugees are 58 pp less likely to be formally employed than natives among married men.•Significant heterogeneity exists across refugee groups regarding age, education, mother tongue, and region of residence in access to employment.