Labeled Cash Grant for Job Search Liquidity
RCTClinical Trial
Displaced refugees in urban developing settings face severe liquidity constraints and poverty, preventing them from covering basic costs associated with finding employment, such as transportation, childcare, and application fees.
Picture this
Job search functions like buying a bus ticket to job interviews. When a jobseeker has no cash available, traveling to hand in resumes or attend interviews is impossible regardless of skill or motivation. Providing a modest cash grant acts like pre-paying transportation costs, granting the financial capability required to travel, submit applications, and secure suitable jobs.
What the evidence says
Four months after treatment, the cash grant increased Syrian refugee employment by 3.8 percentage points (a 70% increase over the control mean of 5.2%, p = 0.027) and increased monthly earnings by 65% (p = 0.040). Treatment effects were concentrated among jobseekers with below-median expenditure at baseline.
- Who was studied
- N = 1,663 Syrian refugees and 2,107 Jordanians (aged 18–45) across 16 demographic strata in Jordan.
- How
- Randomized evaluation of an unconditional labeled cash grant of 65 JOD (~$92 USD, covering ~10 weeks of average job search costs) delivered via ATM card, evaluated at 6 weeks, 2 months, and 4 months post-treatment.
What to do
Provide a single labeled cash transfer equivalent to approximately one month of basic household expenditure to credit-constrained jobseekers to cover upfront search and transport costs.
From the source
"While employment rates remain stubbornly low in the control group, the cash grant raises job search rates and enables refugees to place more job applications. As a result, four months after treatment, the grant boosts employment by 3.8 percentage points (70 percent) and earnings by 65 percent."
An_Adaptive_Targeted_Field_Experiment_Job_Search_Assistance_for.pdf