Refugee economies : labour market integration, the gender gap in employment, and the impact of refugees in Jordan

A substantial increase in the number of refugees has occurred in the recent decade, with the majority of this increase occurring between 2012 and 2015 as a result of the Syrian conflict. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) data, the number of refugees was 10.5 million in 2012, while it stood at 32.5 million as of December 2022. The growth of the refugee population is an increasing concern for origin states, refugee-hosting states, international aid organisations, and, most importantly, refugees themselves. In this regard, a study of refugees can contribute significantly to an understanding of their socioeconomic impact and experiences in a given country; it also facilitates the development of national and international policy in this area. This dissertation examines the factors affecting the integration of refugees into the workforce in a host country, the correlation between traditional gender roles and the gender gap in labour force supply, and the impact of refugees on the labour market in order to contribute to the literature in this field. Thus, there are three chapters in this dissertation that focus on refugee economies. In the first chapter, factors associated with the integration of refugees into the labour market in a developing country context are examined. This study makes an important contribution as little is known about the economic experience of refugees, and existing studies have mainly been conducted in developed countries. This chapter discusses the labour market integration of refugees by relying on primary survey data from 807 Syrian refugees across Jordan. The study explores the contribution of general health problems, human capital, social capital, refugee policy, and being camp residents on the probability of employment and upward economic mobility of refugees. The empirical results show that general health problems, labour market restrictions, and being camp residents negatively associate with the probability of employment and upward economic mobility for refugees. Labour market restrictions especially have a larger negative influence on women and refugees who have a high-educational background. The findings also indicate that refugees who completed job-related training in Jordan are more likely to be employed than those who did not complete job training, this inclusive refugee policy especially increases the probability of women employment. The second chapter examines whether traditional gender role attitudes contribute to the gender gap in the labour force among refugees by using a set of gender index questions about traditional gender attitudes. The ratio of refugee women in the labour market is lower than their male counterparts regardless of destination countries, but little is known about the link between traditional gender role attitudes and labour market outcomes of refugee women. The research is based on primary survey data with Syrian refugees in Jordan from March 2020 to September 2021 in Jordan. The study also examines the association between traditional gender norms and Jordanian women's participation in the labour force within a national context. The research aims to provide plausible explanations for the underrepresentation of women in the labour market. The research findings show that the gender gap among Syrian refugees is higher than among Jordanians since refugees are not allowed to work in all sectors as their Jordanian counterparts are. In addition, the findings show that Syrian refugee women who hold anti-egalitarian attitudes are 46.7 per cent less likely to join the labour force compared to women who adhere to egalitarian views. Additionally, results show that Jordanian women who spend more time on unpaid care work activities are 64.5 per cent less likely to enter the labour force, as the uneven distribution of unpaid care work between men and women hinders their economic development. The findings suggest that low women's labour force participation must be understood through the lens of traditional gender role attitudes. Finally, the research findings can be valuable to policymakers who aim to reduce the gender gap in the labour market in the developing country context. The Syrian civil war began in 2011 and forced a large number of displaced migrants from Syria to Jordan, which is one of Syria's neighbours. The third chapter empirically investigates the impact of Syrian refugees on the labour market outcomes of native-born citizens in Jordan. I explore a posited causal relationship between the number of Syrian refugees and native-born citizens' labour market outcomes in Jordan through micro-level household labour surveys. This paper considers the migration of displaced Syrians to Jordan as two waves, unlike previous papers, where the motive for the initial wave from 2011 to 2014 differed from that of the second flow. The initial migration of Syrians to Jordan was exogenous as they were escaping from the civil war in Syria. This makes a significant difference in the labour market outcomes of native-born citizens in Jordan. To capture the shortterm effects of refugees on Jordanians' labour market outcomes, the research employed Difference-in-Differences (DiD) models. There is an increase in the unemployment-to-population ratio for men and women associated with refugee movements, according to the research findings. In addition, as a result of the forced movement of Syrian refugees into Jordan, native-born citizens in the treatment area experience a reduction in labour force participation by 3.3 percentage points compared to the native-born citizens in the control area. Finally, the findings indicate that Syrian refugees adversely affect the wages of native-born employees in a short-term context, but this impact is not statistically significant. Recent years have seen a significant increase in the number of refugees around the world, which highlights the importance of conducting research on factors that affect refugees' integration into the labour market, the gender gap, and the impact of refugees on native-born workers. The current global refugee crisis is affecting millions of people around the world, and it is often referred to as the worst displacement crisis since the Second World War. A study of refugees presents an opportunity to investigate the socioeconomic impacts of refugees, as well as to provide a deeper understanding of what refugees experience in host countries. The framework presented in this research has been useful as it discusses refugee integration and reality in policy formulation and possible solutions pertaining to the worldwide refugee crisis.