Informal Per-Diem Wage Labor Preference
Observational StudyClinical Trial
Formal employment programs often experience low job retention among refugees because formal manufacturing jobs offer fixed minimum wages with long hours, whereas informal per-diem labor offers higher hourly pay and flexibility.
Picture this
Think of choosing between a full-time factory job that pays $10 an hour for 50 mandatory hours a week versus freelance handyman gigs that pay $20 an hour for 15 hours a week. Even though the factory job has formal legal protections, worker preferences lean toward high-paying, flexible gig work when formal wages are too low to cover urban living costs or family care.
What the evidence says
Job growth following liquidity support concentrated heavily in informal jobs paying slightly below formal monthly minimum wage thresholds, characterized by significantly higher hourly pay but fewer monthly hours worked compared to formal factory positions.
- Who was studied
- Qualitative focus groups and survey follow-ups across N = 1,663 Syrian refugees in Amman, Irbid, and Mafraq, Jordan.
- How
- Mixed-methods analysis combining 2-month and 4-month survey data on wages and hours with structured single-gender qualitative focus group discussions.
What to do
Measure hourly compensation and flexible schedule preferences alongside monthly total earnings when designing employment programs for credit-constrained refugees.
From the source
"Per diem informal work, mainly in services like plumbing, carpentry, and painting, was seen as more profitable... A substantial share of the increase in wage employment documented in the two-month follow-up survey occurs in jobs that pay just below the formal monthly minimum wage."
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