Providing labor market information to long-term unemployed

Last registered on October 22, 2018
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Providing labor market information to long-term unemployed
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0003433
Initial registration date
October 18, 2018

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
October 22, 2018, 12:50 AM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Locations

Country
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Paul Muller
Affiliation
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Michele Belot
PI Affiliation
University of Edinburgh and European University Institute
Contact Investigator
PI Name
Philipp Kircher
PI Affiliation
University of Edinburgh and European University Institute
Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2018-10-18
End date
2022-02-01
Keywords
Labor
Additional Keywords
Jobsearch, Occupational mobility
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Abstract
We investigate whether providing individualized labor market information helps long-term job seekers find employment. Our sample will consist of job seekers that have been unemployed for at least 2 years and that are entering a job search assistance programme offered by a private company. A significant share may have a disability or health condition. These individuals use a standard job search portal to find and track jobs of interest. A random subset will be offered an enhanced version of the portal that offers suggestions for alternative occupations based on the individual’s preference for particular occupations. The enhanced portal also offers additional resources to find relevant occupations in case the job seeker has no preferred occupations.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Belot, Michele, Philipp Kircher and Paul Muller. 2018. "Providing labor market information to long-term unemployed." AEA RCT Registry. October 22. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.3433-1.0
Former Citation
Belot, Michele, Philipp Kircher and Paul Muller. 2018. "Providing labor market information to long-term unemployed." AEA RCT Registry. October 22. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/3433/history/36002
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
The intervention consists of providing labor market information to jobseekers. The control group will be searching for jobs using a standard jobsearch website. The treatment group will be using a jobsearch site on which they receive advice about alternative occupations to consider. They can directly search for available vacancies in these suggested occupations.
Intervention Start Date
2018-10-18
Intervention End Date
2020-10-18

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Duration until reaching an income (from work) threshold.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
NOTE: a conversation is still ongoing with the UK Division of Work and Pensions (DWP) regarding the exact information on job finding that will be provided. The variables that we list here are therefore preliminary until DWP has approved. In case of any changes, an update will be uploaded.

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Duration until job finding; Occupational mobility; Fraction of time employed during first 15 months after programme start; jobsearch activity (nr. of searches, nr. of listed jobs, nr. of viewed jobs, nr. of applications, nr. of interviews). For each (except job interviews) we also consider occupational breadth, which is a measure for the occupational diversity of a set of vacancies.
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)
For computing breadth measures, we will follow the methodology outlined in Belot et al. (2018).

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
All job seekers that enter the assistance programme in the UK, offered by a private company, will be asked to take part in the study. When using the job search portal to find and track jobs of interest, they are asked to consent to take part in a study on job search, but do not receive any specific information on the nature of the intervention. After consenting to take part, information on their search activities as well as other information will be passed on to the research team.

An enhanced version of the job search portal will be offered to randomly selected individuals. Randomization occurs at the individual level and is not conditional on any other individual characteristics. Using a set of API’s, all search activity by participants on the portal will be collected. Once a participant finds employment, information about the job will be passed to the research team. In addition, updated information on the stability of the job will be collected.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Randomization is performed by a computer, based on an individual's ID number.
Randomization Unit
Individual
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
1 region (UK)
Sample size: planned number of observations
17000 individuals (expected)
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
60% will be in the treatment group, and thus the expected sample sizes are 10200 (treatment group) and 6800 (control group)
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Ethics Sub-Committee of the School of Economics, University of Edinburgh
IRB Approval Date
2018-05-29
IRB Approval Number
N/A
Analysis Plan

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Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
No
Data Collection Complete
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials