Rethinking the economic lives of refugees

Refugees in many host countries face restrictions on the right to work and other rights impacting economic independence, such as freedom of movement. However, this does not mean that refugees do not have economic lives. On the contrary, refugees engage in informal work, become entrepreneurs, and at times face exploitative working conditions due to a lack of protection. Some of the questions addressed here include: What shapes national and local policies on economic inclusion? What explains variation in economic outcomes for refugees and their impact on host states? How do economic variables shape policies of the international refugee regime, and how do these impact refugees' wellbeing and protection? How might labour mobility – the 'fourth durable solution' – address protracted refugee situations?

Alexander Betts

Leopold Muller Professor of Forced Migration and International Affairs

Sarah Rosenberg-Jansen

DPhil Candidate, Refugee Studies Centre, Department of International Development, University of Oxford

Estella Carpi

Research Associate, Migration Research Unit, Department of Geography, University College London

Kellie Leeson

Independent Consultant, Lead Refugee Self-Reliance Initiative

Dale Buscher

Vice President for Programs, Women’s Refugee Commission, Co-Chair Refugee Self-Reliance Initiative

Evan Easton-Calabria

Editor, Rethinking Refuge Platform & Senior Research Officer, RSC

Marcin Lewandowski

Head of Learning, Working West London project

Ana Andronic

Recruitment Adviser, Working West London project

In this topic

Back to Topics

Article

Rethinking Energy Economies for Refugees

Energy for refugees is often viewed as a niche sector but in many refugee settings energy plays a huge part in everyday life and work.

Read Article

Article

How New Tools are Meeting the Challenge of Measuring Refugee Self-Reliance

How can we measure refugee self-reliance, one of the objectives of the UN’s Global Compact on Refugees? In this article, the Refugee Self-Reliance Initiative presents a tool for measuring self-reliance and shows how it can be used in effective programming

Read Article

Article

Car-sharing in Lebanon: Overlooked practices of collective self-reliance

Humanitarian agencies often decide refugee eligibility based on identity categories that do not acknowledge the collective nature of socio-economic practices. This study of car-sharing in Lebanon challenges these approaches and offers an alternative model.

Read Article

Article

Refugees and Digital Exclusion

Refugees and asylum seekers in the UK have faced disproportionate challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. Even before the start of the pandemic the number of refugees and asylum seekers in poverty in the UK was rising.

Read Article