In Simple Words
Imagine a worker who has the skills for a good job in the city center but cannot afford the bus ticket or daily lunch needed to attend job interviews. Giving this worker a small cash grant acts like paying for a multi-week bus pass. Even if the money comes without strict enforcement, labeling it for job search encourages the recipient to cover transportation and basic needs, enabling them to send out more applications and eventually secure a higher-paying, stable job.
Syrian refugee jobseekers in Jordan
- Basic flyer and JOD 4
- Group used for comparison
- Basic support plus JOD 65 grant
- Employment 3.8 percentage points higher
Syrian subgroup, four months. Estimated gain; uncertain after adjustment for multiple tests (q = 0.081). Nationality differences were not tested.
See source →Research question
Refugees and low-income jobseekers frequently face binding liquidity constraints that restrict their ability to afford basic costs associated with job search, such as transportation, childcare, and application preparation. Without financial support, credit-constrained individuals cannot search intensively or wait for high-quality job matches, trapping them in unemployment or low-wage informal work.
Participants
N = 1,663 Syrian refugees and N = 2,107 Jordanian jobseekers in urban areas (Amman, Irbid, Mafraq).
Study Design
Randomized field evaluation of a modest, one-time labeled cash transfer of 65 JOD (~$92 USD, covering ~10 weeks of average search costs) delivered via charged ATM cards, measured at 6-week, 2-month, and 4-month follow-ups.
Results
Four months post-treatment, the cash grant increased Syrian refugee employment by 3.8 percentage points (a 70% increase over control) and raised earnings by 65% (p = 0.040). It doubled job retention rates from 3.3% to 6.2% (p = 0.036) and increased hourly wages by 0.308 JOD (p = 0.055).
Takeaway
Distribute modest, targeted unconditional or labeled cash transfers to credit-constrained jobseekers to relieve immediate liquidity bottlenecks and enhance job search intensity and match quality.
Source and citation
See source →Read alongside the research
Plain-English glossary
Original explanations, informed by the references below. Examples are illustrations, not data from the studies above. The research text stays unchanged.
- Percentage points
The difference between two percentages.
ExampleA rise from 40% to 50% is 10 percentage points. Relative to the starting value, that is a 25% increase.
Office for National Statistics · Percentages ↗Read more about percentage points →