Mr. Sorvig presented findings from his dissertation thesis, describing how a large segment of the young men in Burj Barajneh depend on low-income employment inside the camp, and how the informal economy absorbs the vast majority of those partially or fully employed, including the skilled and the highly educated. He also examined the conditions that young men face in the Lebanese labor market, where legal restrictions create obstacles that they have to challenge and adapt to. In their economic activities and coping strategies, young men often rely not only on members of their household, but also on their wider social network, through members of their extended family, other kinship ties, neighbors and friends – thus demonstrating the social embeddedness of economic action in the refugee camp.

Coping strategies often necessitate a pooling of household resources, to the extent that it might make more sense to speak about household strategies, or clusters of intertwined strategies, rather than individual ones. Finally, dissatisfaction with the current situation, and pessimism about future prospects, induce many of the young men to try to leave Lebanon for the West.