Improving Labor Market Outcomes for Refugees in Developing Countries: Evidence from Uganda

Refugees and asylum seekers often struggle to find jobs in their host countries, even when they have unrestricted right to work. This is especially true in low-income countries, home to the majority of the displaced populations in the world. Firms may be reluctant to hire a refugee due to several reasons. Firms may believe that a refugee has lower productivity or is more costly to screen compared to a local worker. Furthermore, language barriers and other information frictions may affect refugees’ job search behavior and the probability of matching. Does assisting firms in hiring ultimately help refugees workers integrating in the local labor markets? We study the effect of short-term internships and skills certifications on firms’ beliefs and willingness to hire refugee workers. We do so by running an experiment in urban Uganda, one of the largest refugee-host countries in the world and the largest in Africa. By organizing internships we will expose firms to working with a refugee for one week, giving them the chance to learn about the worker’s productivity over time. Moreover, we will test whether the effect of this internship differs depending on whether we inform firms that the candidate acquired a skills certificate from a well-known vocational education institute.