Demand-side Interventions for the Economic Integration of Refugees

Last registered on March 04, 2022

View Trial History

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title

Demand-side Interventions for the Economic Integration of Refugees

RCT ID

AEARCTR-0008257

Initial registration date

March 03, 2022

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published

March 04, 2022, 9:16 AM EST

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Locations

Country

Germany

Region

Primary Investigator

Name

Jakob Hennig

Affiliation

Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name

David Rhys Bernard

PI Affiliation

Paris School of Economics

PI Name

Jasmin Fliegner

PI Affiliation

University of Manchester

PI Name

Yvonne Giesing

PI Affiliation

ifo Institut

PI Name

Sekou Keita

PI Affiliation

IAB

PI Name

Romuald Meango

PI Affiliation

University of Oxford

Additional Trial Information

Status

In development

Start date

2022-03-01

End date

2023-12-31

Keywords

Firms & Productivity, Labor, Other

Additional Keywords

Integration, Refugees

JEL code(s)

J15, J23, J24, J61, J71, M51

Secondary IDs

Prior work

This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.

Abstract

This project’s objective is to study frictions in the process of hiring refugees, and the effectiveness of accurate information and consulting services for firms in reducing such frictions. Depressed labor demand for refugees harms their prospects of successful integration. Despite this, the literature so far has focused on refugee-side interventions. The study's population of firms consists of small and medium-sized businesses, in sectors where refugees frequently find employment. There are two randomized interventions: (1) an information treatment, confronting firms with other firms' experiences with refugees, and (b) an intensive information and counseling treatment. This will be targeted to the specific needs of the firm and will provide information as requested, as well as broker contacts with refugee job-seekers via intermediaries. The main objective of this pilot lies in assessing the impact of the treatment on the hiring probability and other measures of labor demand. However, we also hope to study the second stage effect of hiring refugees on firms’ economic and social outcomes.

External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation

Bernard, David Rhys et al. 2022. "Demand-side Interventions for the Economic Integration of Refugees." AEA RCT Registry. March 04. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.8257-1.0

Sponsors & Partners

There is information in this trial unavailable to the public. Use the button below to request access.

Request Information

Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)

The study consists of two different interventions, one an information treatment and the other a consulting treatment.
1.) In the first intervention, firms receive information about the experiences of other firms who have employed refugees. We elicit these experiences as part of our baseline survey. They cover administrative difficulties, residence status, language learning, customer reactions and other relevant domains.
2.) The second intervention is a composite consulting treatment. Our team will call up treated firms and enquire about their difficulties and questions regarding possible refugee employment. We will then provide them with relevant material, for example information on refugee status and work permits, and practical information about how to organize a language course. We will also broker contacts to other knowledgeable parties. These include the 'welcome pilots', associated with the chambers of commerce, who are tasked with helping refugee job seekers and will have information about suitable candidates for specific firms. We will periodically follow up with the firms in this second treatment arm.
The materials used for this second treatment, as well as the contacts to welcome pilots, are provided by the Netzwerk Unternehmen integrieren Flüchtlinge.

Intervention Start Date

2022-03-14

Intervention End Date

2022-05-15

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)

There are 2 main types of outcomes:
1. Intentions of hiring a refugee employee (relative to native employee).
2. Revealed labor demand for refugee workers: interviewing, offering a job to, and hiring a refugee employee.

Primary Outcomes (explanation)

See the pre-analysis plan for an explanation of the outcomes and their measurement

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)

1. Interaction terms/treatment effect heterogeneity for the primary outcomes:
- ex-ante demand for refugee labor, and beliefs about employment barriers, refugee motivations, and motivations of other firms.
- previous experience with refugee employees.
- firm size and sector.
- role of the employee, including if it involves customer contact.
- ex-ante prosocial motivation of firms.

2. A set of outcome variables from basic administrative data on firms:
- employment and revenue growth.

3. Outcomes on the effect of hiring a refugee (conditional on treatment causing more refugee hirings):
- co-worker attitudes towards refugees
- workplace changes

4. Tracking of issues which firms enquire about in the consulting treatment.
- frequencies at which firms ask for information e.g. about residence status or lannguage classes
- tracking of firms who do not ask for specific information

Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

See the pre-analysis plan for an explanation of the outcomes and their measurement

Experimental Design

We have recruited firms via mail and email, as well as with direct calls to firms which have shown an initial interest in hiring refugees. In all cases, we have limited our recruitment efforts to SMEs in sectors where refugees typically find employment.

The firms in our population will be randomized into the following groups:
Control group: participates in the surveys but does not receive any treatment.
Treatment group 1: Participates in the surveys and in the short information treatment 1.
Treatment group 2: Participates in the surveys and receives both the comprehensive consulting treatment 2 and the information treatment 1.

If we have enough firms in our population, we will add:
Treatment group 3: Participates in the surveys and receives the comprehensive consulting treatment 2, but not the information treatment 1.

The randomization will be stratified by firm size and sector, and potentially by demographic characteristics of the area such as the share of foreigners in the population and support for anti-immigration parties.

We will have two waves in the study.
The timeline of the study is as follows:
First wave:
- March 2022: Baseline survey.
- March-May 2022: Treatment 1 and 2.
- May 2022, following Treatment 1: hiring intentions follow-up survey.
- Fall 2022: short follow up survey on labor demand outcomes.
Second wave:
- February 2023: Baseline survey.
- March-May 2023: Treatment 1 and 2.
- May 2023, following Treatment 1: hiring intentions follow-up survey.
- Fall 2023: short follow up survey on labor demand outcomes.
Q3 2024: endline survey.

Experimental Design Details

Randomization Method

In office by a computer.

Randomization Unit

Firms

Was the treatment clustered?

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters

min. 200 firms in the first wave.
Unknown number in the second wave, at a minimum another 200 firms.
We will recruit into the second wave in Fall 2022.

Sample size: planned number of observations

min. 200 firms in the first wave. Unknown number in the second wave, at a minimum another 200 firms. We will recruit into the second wave in Fall 2022.

Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms

Anticipated: 1/3 of firms control, 1/3 information treatment T1, 1/3 information and consulting treatment T1+T2.
With 300 firms, the total numbers would be 100 control, 100 T1 and 100 T1+T2.

Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)

Supporting Documents and Materials

IRB