In Simple Words
Giving someone a free gift card every week helps them buy food, but sitting idle all day can cause loneliness and depression. Giving that same person a small daily wage to work on a community garden provides a sense of purpose, dignity, and social connection that cash alone cannot supply.
Refugees in a paid-work experiment
- Cash without work
- Same cash without work
- Paid work for the same cash
- Stronger psychological benefits
Randomized refugee-camp study. The result concerns psychological wellbeing in this setting; it does not mean all work improves mental health.
See source →Research question
Unconditional cash transfer interventions address financial poverty but fail to alleviate psychological distress, social isolation, and loss of identity associated with unemployment. Evaluating social protection solely on monetary income overlooks the psychological wellbeing derived from productive work.
Participants
Displaced refugees residing in a refugee camp setting (Hussam et al., 2022).
Study Design
Randomized controlled trial assigning displaced individuals to receive either a small daily wage in exchange for work or an equivalent cash transfer without work requirements.
Results
Participants randomly assigned to receive paid work experienced significantly stronger psychological and mental health benefits compared to participants receiving the exact same cash amount without work.
Takeaway
Incorporate structured employment components into social safety net programs deployed in crisis or refugee settings where psychological distress and social isolation are prevalent.
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.
- Randomized controlled trial
A study that uses chance, like drawing lots, to decide who receives each option being compared. Researchers compare the groups’ outcomes to estimate the effect of those options.
ExampleA lottery assigns volunteers to a training programme or a comparison group. Researchers then compare their outcomes.
GET-IT glossary · Randomized study ↗Read more about randomized controlled trial →