Switzerland's new algorithm could get up to 30% more refugees into work

The unemployment crisis is a hard thing to solve - businesses sometimes have no choice but to let workers go. An innovative program tries to prevent joblessness by temporarily paying a portion of workers’ salaries at struggling companies.

American humanitarian aid and programs by the United Nations have proved beneficial to equip Middle Eastern refugees with resources for self-settlement outside of camps. The self-settlement model has empowered refugees to become more productive members of society when they return home.

Vacant positions exist in many employment sectors, including in education and in hospitals. ReServe is a program that joins retired professionals to part-time paid positions in non-profits to perform duties. A controversy has emerged that suggests these positions should be paid at a professional-rate salary.

When immigrant children come to America, they are faced with culture shock, language barriers, and a system of education different from where their original country. Houston’s Las Americas Newcomer School is designed to ease the adjustment of immigrant and refugee children as they enter the American educational system. Las Americas offers competitive wages for teachers, teaching in several different languages, and preparation for the SAT as the school has the highest rate of minority participation.

Crushing poverty and extreme violence - fueled by drug trafficking and police corruption - are behind a mass migration of Central American children to the United States in recent months that has overwhelmed U.S. border resources and driven illegal immigration to the fore in U.S. congressional elections. But the United Nations has praised Nicaragua's security model, which includes social services to help youths in gangs find jobs as well as sport programs like little-league baseball teams.

Refugee camps typically look like a prison with squalid conditions and barbed wire tops. By contrast, the Kilis refugee camp in Turkey is orderly, secure, and clean; has schools for children; has grocery stores, and is powered with electricity. The camp is not run by the United Nations, but rather it is Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency that oversees every detail and pours billions of dollars into maintaining it every year.

Some inner city schools, nonprofits, and businesses in New York lack the staff to make their organizations function for the people they serve. ReServe is a program that links retired professionals with part-time jobs in schools, libraries, hospitals and other city agencies to help fil this gap.

Immigrants are increasingly settling in the United States, but their cultural adjustments present economic and social challenges. Different states have started welcoming initiatives to aid in foreigners in their transition. Welcoming Tennessee has organized community gatherings and public talks, and has publicized how immigrants can contribute to their new neighborhoods.

The Twilight Education Club is a non-profit working to break down the barriers – transportation, child care and cost – that typically prevent the economically disadvantaged from accessing social services such as language classes. While the Twilight program is specifically geared toward the needs of the parents - getting better jobs and securing greater stability - the long-term focus remains on creating future opportunities for their children.

World Concern, a Seattle-based Christian humanitarian group, provides people around the world with vouchers they can use in select markets, rather than the traditional emergency food aid of rice and other grains. In Dhobley, Somalia, the solution of vouchers quickens the process of receiving the food and contributes to the local economy.