This Jobs Solutions Note is intended to identify practical solutions for development practitioners and policymakers to design and implement policies and programs for the labor market integration of refugees and IDPs. The Note (a) identifies the specific obstacles that refugees and IDPs face when integrating the labor market, (b) highlights interventions designed to address those barriers, focusing on the World Bank, and (c) summarizes existing knowledge on what works. It builds on a comprehensive literature review on Jobs Interventions for Refugees and IDPs, and is part of a broader work on Supporting Jobs in Fragility, Conflict, and Violence Situations. The Note uses a broad definition of jobs as any income source, formal or informal, including employment, self-employment and entrepreneurship. 1 JOBS NOTES Issue No. 13 KEY MESSAGES ¬ Forcibly displaced people-refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs)-often struggle to integrate into labor markets.

In this paper, we use survey data from the Mexican Retrospective Demographic Survey (Encuesta Demográfica Retrospectiva) and National Survey of Households (Encuesta Nacional de Hogares) collected in 2017 to examine self-reports of depression, anxiety, chronic fatigue, and pain among domestic migrants, returned U.S. migrants, and nonmigrants. Although self-reports do not always correspond to clinical diagnoses, they offer some insight into mental health, especially for those without a diagnosis because of limited access to services or stigma. Regression results reveal that domestic migrants, e.g., those who moved within Mexico, reported more anxiety, chronic fatigue, and pain, but risks for U.S. migrants were comparable to non-migrants, controlling for other characteristics. Findings from the decomposition analysis helps explain these findings. While domestic migrant vs. non-migrant differences result both from different migrant demographic attributes, such as age and gender, and differences in the effects of these characteristics between the groups, U.S. migrant vs. non-migrant differences in anxiety and pain emerge only after allowing for the relationship between each observed characteristic and the mental health outcome to vary. Thus, compared to domestic migrants, U.S. migrants are selected on characteristics associated with good mental health-they are positively selected-but those characteristics are not protective for them.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to quantify the labor market outcomes of people with disabilities (PwD) in Indonesia and compares them to people without disabilities. It first studies the labor force participation of PwD before examining the large and persistent wage gaps they face. It explores whether these wage gaps are explained by differences in productivity, a distinction which has important implications for policies addressing these gaps.Design/methodology/approachThe analysis is based on the Indonesian Family Life Survey Wave 5, which includes unique questions allowing for several definitions of disability. Multinomial logistic regression is used to study differences in type of employment for PwD. Wage gaps are estimated and corrected for selection using propensity score matching, supported by a Heckman selection model and Oaxaca–Blinder decomposition. Comparisons with other physically disadvantaged subgroups and the analysis of heterogeneity by job requirements and sector of work explore whether productivity gaps help explain wage gaps.FindingsPwD generally have lower unconditional labor force participation, but disparities largely disappear when controlling for characteristics. Moreover, patterns vary depending on whether the measure of disability used depends on prior medical diagnosis. PwD that do not require prior diagnosis tend to work in more vulnerable employment. When they are employed for wages, people with these types of disabilities face lower wages, up to 22% lower. Meanwhile, (surprisingly) those with medically diagnosed conditions face no difference or a wage premium. This paper finds compelling evidence that, where a wage penalty exists, a substantial part is unexplained by observable characteristics.Originality/valuePrevious literature on disability has been mostly based on studies of high-income economies. This paper extends the literature to Indonesia, which differs from high-income contexts due to lack of mental healthcare resources and assistive technologies, as well as weaker rule of law. It provides unique insights based on types of disability and the salient dimensions of disability in the workplace. It also provides evidence that productivity differences do not explain the wage gap.

Digital financial services (DFSs) may lower certain costs of accessing finance, but they bring new costs, including difficulties accessing mobile networks. Using the Demographic and Health Surveys and several geocoded databases in Nepal, the Philippines, Senegal and Tanzania, this paper studies the distribution of digital finance use among women and its enabling infrastructure, including mobile phone towers, compared to traditional finance. The potential of digital technologies to lessen inequalities depends on availability and access, particularly for women who may already face gaps in financial inclusion. Mobile phone towers are more unequally distributed than traditional banks, though mobile phone use is near universal. However, digital finance use is still low and almost as unequal as traditional finance, driven by the same inequalities. Wealth, education and location appear to be strongly associated with access to DFSs. The results suggest that old inequalities may constrain the promise of new digital technologies.