Most refugees, especially in developing countries, do not have formal labor market access. Even when permitted by law, administrative and practical barriers often limit access. The authors argue that granting refugees formal labor market access has the potential to...
JDC Literature Review
Job Vacancies and Immigration: Evidence From Pre- and Post-Mariel Miami
This paper examines the impact of immigration on labor market opportunities in the United States. The authors exploit the Conference Board’s Help-Wanted Index (HWI), a monthly job vacancy index that counted the number of help-wanted ads published in local newspapers...
The Impact of the Syrian Refugee Crisis on Firm Entry and Performance in Turkey
The authors examine the impact of Syrian refugee inflows into Turkey on firm entry and performance. While total firm entry does not seem to be significantly affected, there is a substantial increase in the number of new foreign-owned firms in refugee-hosting regions....
Two and a Half Million Syrian Refugees, Tasks and Capital Intensity
This paper investigates how the rapid increase in the low-skilled labor supply in Turkey induced by the inflow of 2.5 million Syrian refugees changed the tasks performed by Turkish workers and the capital intensity of Turkish firms. Despite the unexpected nature of...
The Impact of Internal Displacement on Destination Communities: Evidence from the Colombian Conflict
The paper examines the impact of internal displacement in Colombia between 1998 and 2005 on wages in destination municipalities. The analysis suggests that influxes of IDPs lead to a short-run negative impact on wages, i.e. a one percent increase in population due to...
The Labor Market Effects of Refugee Waves: Reconciling Conflicting Results
Recent research has challenged the consensus that sudden inflows of refugees have little or no impact on natives’ wages and employment, claiming instead that there are uniformly large detrimental effects on natives without school qualifications. The authors offer two...
Blessing or burden? Impacts of refugees on businesses and the informal economy
The authors examine the impact of the sudden arrival of more than three million Syrian refugees on the behavior of firms in Turkey. This case is useful to investigate causal effects because: (a) the timing and scale of the refugee inflow were exogenous to economic...
Jobs Interventions for Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons
This literature review summarizes: (a) evidence on the impact of forced displacement on economic outcomes for refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs); and (b) existing knowledge on jobs interventions for refugees and IDPs. The authors include both...