lEBANON Livelihoods iNDEX

Disruptive technologies, COVID-19 and globalisation are changing the landscape of labour markets over the past decades. As a result, informal and atypical labour are growing phenomena around the world. Even in contexts with well-functioning labour markets and strong economic growth, the effects of informal labour and atypical working are tremendous. But what about in crisis-hit contexts? How does crisis-induced uncertainty interrelate with such phenomena?

The project “Supporting Macroeconomic Stability and Prosperity in an Age of Mass Displacement” is one of the first studies that attempts to explore informal and atypical labour in a crisis context. The main aim of the project is to look at the decision-making of both workers and employers in the context of current socio-economic and political uncertainty in Lebanon.

This study focuses on an innovative interdisciplinary methodological and theoretical framework to improve our understanding of informal labour markets and their implications to livelihoods and prosperity. Alongside empirical evidence, the project will develop decision-support tools for vulnerable groups enabling efficient job search and matching, thus increasing employment chances. Empowering people to make better decisions about their livelihoods will have broader societal benefits as insecure, poorly paid jobs generate broad social and public health impacts.

The project was conducted by the team and citizen scientists (CS) in Spring 2021 in the neighbourhoods of two major cities in Lebanon, Ras Beirut (Beirut) and Mina (Tripoli).

Team

The project “Supporting Macroeconomic Stability and Prosperity in an Age of Mass Displacement” has been supported by a very wide multidisciplinary team of academics and Citizen Scientists:

Principal Investigator: Prof. Henrietta L. Moore

Co-Investigators: Dr. Georgios Melios, Dr. Elisabetta Pietrostefani, Prof. Michelle Baddeley, Dr. Ala’a Shehabi

ABM Specialist: Dr. J. Raimbault

Data Analyst: Y. Sleiman

Research Assistant: Diala Makki 

Field Coordinator: Mayssa Jallad

Coordinator: Mariam Daher

Citizen Scientists