Refugee Assistance: Little Is Known about the Effectiveness of Different Approaches for Improving Refugees' Employment Outcomes
Highlights
In fiscal year 2009, the United States resettled close to 70,000 refugees fleeing persecution in their homelands. To assist in their transition to the United States and help them attain employment, the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) provides temporary cash, medical, and other assistance through four different assistance programs. The economic downturn and an increase in refugee arrivals posed challenges to ORR's efforts to assist refugees and estimate program costs, resulting in fluctuating unobligated balances. Congress required GAO to examine (1) differences in ORR's refugee assistance programs and factors program providers consider when placing refugees in a particular program; (2) refugee employment outcomes and the effectiveness of different approaches to providing assistance; and (3) how ORR estimates program costs and how its estimates have affected the agency's unobligated balances. GAO met with federal and state officials, voluntary agency staff, and refugees; reviewed selected case files; analyzed ORR performance data for fiscal years 2007 through 2009; and reviewed and analyzed relevant federal laws, regulations, and budget documents.
Recommendations
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Department of Health and Human Services | The Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) should identify effective approaches that state and voluntary agencies can use to help refugees become employed and self-sufficient. To identify these approaches, the Secretary may consider, for example, conducting a series of rigorous evaluations of the programs and their approaches or expanding information collected on the annual survey. Recommendations from further study could be used by HHS or, if appropriate, by Congress, to improve ORR's refugee resettlement programs. |
In FY12, HHS reported that it revised the survey form for the Annual Survey of Refugees by adding questions on the extent of secondary migration and the reasons for secondary migration; and factors that might influence a refugee to move to another state after resettlement. Additional questions on English language acquisition and communication participation were also added. The Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) also continued to address the issue of increasing participation in the Annual Survey, by, for example, starting to develop an on-line version of the survey. In FY14, HHS reported launching its first survey on-line. However, GAO did not receive further information about how the agency used survey information to identify effective approaches that state and voluntary agencies can use to help refugees become employed and self-sufficient and shared this information with the agencies. HHS officials also noted that they had not implemented a rigorous program evaluation due to the lack of funds availabile.
|