Jobs Interventions for Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons

Abstract

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.

An Adaptive Targeted Field Experiment: Job Search Assistance for Refugees in Jordan

“…In contrast, among Jordanians, this relationship is much weaker: an increase in expenditure by one standard deviation is associated with a 0.3 standard deviation increase in the number of job applications and a 0.03 standard deviation increase in the probability of job search (also see Figure A.10). This is consistent with several recent quantitative reports from international organisations working with refugees, which report that cash-constraints are a first-order concern both for Syrian refugees in Jordan (Abu Hamad et al, 2017), and for Syrian refugees in Lebanon (Lehmann and Masterson, 2014;Chaaban et al, 2020); see Schuettler and Caron (2020) for a review. It is also consistent with our qualitative interviews -described shortly -in which we found that financial constraints are a key barrier, and that the cash grant was seen as facilitating job search.…”

“…Recent evidence shows that both Syrians and Jordanians perceive that formal work, particularly in the manufacturing sector, is often exhausting, exploitative, and potentially risky (Amjad et al, 2017;Razzaz, 2017). Importantly, these barriers are by no means unique to refugees in Jordan, as is consistently highlighted by the non-experimental literature on displacement (Loiacono and Vargas, 2019;Schuettler and Caron, 2020).…”

Long-Term Consequences of Forced Displacement: Three Salient Themes

“…Forced displacement may affect a select few, such as in the case of natural disasters affecting a limited geographic area, or millions ("massive population flows"), such as in the case of the population exchanges after the end of WWII, described below. 3 See Schuettler and Caron (2020) for a recent survey of the struggle faced by refugees and internally displaced persons struggle to integrate the labor market. transfer of technological knowledge in textile and the provision of new agricultural know-how, which fostered growth through higher diversity in complementary skills.…”

Beyond the right to work

“…As also highlighted in a recent review on job interventions for displaced persons by Schuettler and Caron (2020), a critical look is required at both the demand and supply side, as well as the legal situation of refugees to understand participation of refugees in the labour market.…”

“…The extent of the gap may be shaped by the cultural affiliation between the host country and country of origin as the case of Sweden highlights (Lundborg, 2013). Often, in low-and middle-income countries, refugees tend to face additional challenges due to loss of economic and non-economic assets, as well as facing additional restrictions in terms of accessing the labour market due to lack of documentation or status, which thus sets them even more apart from other economic migrants (e.g., Doocy et al, 2011;Loiacono & Vargas, 2019;Schuettler & Caron, 2020).…”