Evaluating the Effect of the Matching Grant Program for Refugees: An Observational Study Using Matching, Weighting, and the Mantel-Haenszel Test

Abstract

This study evaluates the treatment effect of the Matching Grant Program in the United States, a resettlement assistance program for officially admitted refugees with the aim of helping them gain early employment. The matching estimates of this study suggest that the program significantly increased the employment probability of its participants by 12 to 13 percentage points. Heterogeneity analyses show that the effect of the program is higher for specific sub-groups, such as younger refugees (under age 35), those with mid or high English proficiency, and Asian and European refugees. A variety of robustness checks as well as weighting estimates lend support to the main finding of this study.