News Finding: "Our approach preserves the ability of policy-makers to set their own parameters and priorities," the researchers write.
Paper Finding: On average, the thirdyear employment rate was 15% under the actual assignment and 26% under the optimized assignment.
News Context: A simple change
  
  The researchers are not advocating for the algorithm to replace the decision-making of resettlement officials. "Our approach preserves the ability of policy-makers to set their own parameters and priorities," the researchers write. "For instance, in a computer-assisted assignment process, the algorithm might provide several recommendations, and placement officers could use their own discretion to determine the final assignment or override any suggestions."
Paper Context: Similar to the U.S. context, our algorithm increased the predicted probability of finding employment across the entire distribution of refugees. On average, the thirdyear employment rate was 15% under the actual assignment and 26% under the optimized assignment. These results suggest that the data-driven assignment has the potential to increase third-year employment in the Swiss context by about 73%.