Skill, Career and Wage Mobility Among Refugees

This paper draws on: 1) administrative program data collected from nearly 700 individuals participating in International Rescue Committee career programs (workforce development programs that are explicitly focused on supporting refugees – regardless of previous professional experience or educational background – to move into higher-skill, higher-wage jobs); 2) in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 40 refugees from nearly a dozen countries that have participated in International Rescue Committee career programs and; 3) interviews with nearly 20 program staff and key stakeholders that are implementing refugee-serving career programs. The paper examines several key issues including wage and job progression outcomes among IRC career program participants, issues and patterns surrounding enrollment in and attainment of industry-aligned credentials, variations among program model and intervention approaches, and variations in client engagement and outcomes in sector-specific programs that are aligned to key industries. The breadth of the administrative program data – it includes refugees accessing career programming in more than ten cities, refugees that come from more than two dozen nations, refugees with tremendous variation in educational background, and refugees engaged in career programming aligned with a wide variety of industry sectors – affords a unique opportunity to consider variations in refugee outcomes and experiences. The inclusion of qualitative interviews (clients and staff/stakeholders) adds depth and context to this analysis. Further, the paper presents some initial suggestions on how findings from this analysis could inform key workforce development policy decisions at the federal, state, and local level.