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 employment rate was 34% under the actual assignment and 48% under the optimized assignment, which means that the optimized assignment would increase the employment rate above the baseline by roughly 41%.
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: In addition, the algorithmic assignment yielded higher employment rates in almost every location, including locations that had higher and lower baseline employment rates. On average, the employment rate was 34% under the actual assignment and 48% under the optimized assignment, which means that the optimized assignment would increase the employment rate above the baseline by roughly 41%. Our algorithmic assignment considerably increased expected refugee employment over the status quo assignment (Fig.