Replication Data for: 2022 Global Refugee Work Rights Report

Most refugees face significant legal and practical barriers to full economic inclusion in the labor markets of their host countries. While these barriers are widely discussed in general terms, a systematic, public documentation of these barriers is important to advance the efforts toward economic inclusion. In the 2022 Global Refugee Work Rights Report, we examine different dimensions of work rights both in law (de jure) and in practice (de facto) across 51 countries that were collectively hosting 87 percent of the world’s refugee population at the end of 2021. Our de facto findings are based on a survey of practitioners in the 51 refugee-hosting countries, as well as supplemental desk research. We find that at least 62 percent of refugees live in countries where the legal framework for work rights is adequate or better. Yet many of these laws are not widely implemented: at least 55 percent of refugees live in a country that significantly restricts their work rights in practice. Countries were also scored on 17 specific questions regarding wage employment, self-employment, mobility, and access to services, in most cases relative to citizens’ access. All of these variables are included in the dataset, and additional findings are documented in the report. The methodology section of the report contains a detailed description of the scoring and definitions. Annex 3 of the report contains the full questionnaire. Please see https://www.refugeeworkrights.org/ to download a .csv file of the dataset.