conditions in absolute terms,<sup>11</sup> especially in camps. For instance, In Kurdistan and Jordan, Syrian refugees currently living in camps report occupying 0.6 rooms per capita and 0.3 bedrooms per capita (3 people per bedroom).

Figure 8 characterizes the rental markets for Syrian refugees outside camps. More than 95 percent of Syrian refugees living outside camps rent their dwelling, and the vast majority report difficulty in doing so,<sup>12</sup> especially in Lebanon, where few landlords sign written contracts (roughly 15 percent). In the three settings considered here, rents represent a high burden in terms of total income in refugee households: at least one-third in Lebanon and significantly more than half in Jordan.<sup>13</sup>

# **_B. Labor Market Attachment_**

The size and structure of the hosting economy, the right to work, and mobility are among the factors that determine the extent to which refugees are able to participate in host countries’ economies. However, the evidence from high-, middle-, and low-income countries is unequivocal in finding that refugees will find a way to work, even when they are formally prohibited from doing so. Irrespective of policies governing refugees’ rights to work, Syrian refugees in all three samples are seeking work. A little less than half of the working-age population (defined as 20 to 60-year-olds) is actively seeking work (Figure 9).

However, success in finding employment has been more limited. Roughly one-third of Syrian refugees of working age in Kurdistan (or 70 percent of those in the labor force) were employed. Forty-four percent of the working-age refugee population (or almost 90 percent of those in the labor force) in Lebanon reported having worked in the last week; while in our out-of-camp Jordan sample, employment rates were the highest as a share of labor force participation at 69 percent, but still accounted for only about one-fifth of the 11 Overcrowding and the quality of housing emerged frequently in focus group discussions of how refugees are living in the host countries. For instance, in all four focus groups conducted in Kouachra, a rural site in the North governorate of Lebanon, most of the respondents said that they lived with their families in “storage rooms.” Each storage room is about the size of a one-car garage, and there are several such structures constructed one beside the other, usually on the side of the road, that were originally built for purposes other than human habitation. Some examples of statements were: “Ten of us live in one room.” [ _Female, Beirut_ ]; “Rentals start from $200 for a one-room house. My whole house in narrower than this room. I live in it with my 3 children.” [ _Male, rural site, Mount Lebanon_ ]; “Some of us had to live in a hen coop. We really need houses. We have no electricity and no water. The room is composed of four walls and a roof; nothing more nothing less.” [ _Female, Rural area, North governorate_ ]. “I live in a one-room basement. The bathroom and kitchen are inside the room. There are bad odors, high humidity, and mold. The doctor told me while treating my son for asthma that I should move to another home. But I don’t have the money.” [ _Female, rural site, Beqaa governorate, Lebanon_ ] 12 A 2014 UNHCR survey finds that rents are among the largest expenses for refugees, representing 50 percent of monthly refugee household expenditure (UNHCR, 2014).

13 Apart from camp sites, respondents across all qualitative study sites in both Lebanon and Jordan complained about being exploited by landlords who charged high rental prices for ill-maintained accommodations. They also worried about being evicted and said that they paid a large share of their earnings towards rent, sometimes forgoing food or going into debt. Some reported renting low-quality housing so that they could afford meals. First-hand accounts of the situation included the following: “When the landlord knows [that] we are Syrian, they increase the rent. The landlord tells us every time that he is spoiling us because he is only taking JD 200 as rent, as if he is renting me a castle.” [Male, Amman, Jordan]. “Housing conditions are very bad for the price. The plumbing is old, walls leak, ceilings leak, there is high humidity. If we tell the owner, he says we must make the repairs at our own expense.” [Female, Beirut, Lebanon].

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