Psycho-social supports for job search in Ethiopia

Last registered on March 10, 2019

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Psycho-social supports for job search in Ethiopia
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0003863
Initial registration date
March 09, 2019

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
March 10, 2019, 10:37 PM EDT

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

Locations

Region

Primary Investigator

Affiliation
Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Affiliation
World Bank

Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2018-04-01
End date
2018-12-01
Secondary IDs
Abstract
This study investigates the effects of providing idle youth in Ethiopia with psychological supports, more specifically self-affirmation and goal-setting, in terms of job search and employment outcomes. Out-of-work vulnerable youth between the age of 18 and 29 in Addis Ababa were invited to participate in the project and then randomly assigned to a control group or one of two treatment arms. For the first treatment,
they were invited to attend a behaviorally informed three-hour workshop focused on self-affirmation, while in the second treatment the workshop also included a goal-setting exercise. Fortnightly follow-up calls were made to all individuals for the subsequent three
months, collecting data on job search, employment and other outcomes. The present document outlines the outcomes and regression specifications to assess the short term effect of these workshops.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Mejia-Mantilla, Carolina and James Walsh. 2019. "Psycho-social supports for job search in Ethiopia." AEA RCT Registry. March 10. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.3863-1.0
Former Citation
Mejia-Mantilla, Carolina and James Walsh. 2019. "Psycho-social supports for job search in Ethiopia." AEA RCT Registry. March 10. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/3863/history/42974
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Provide idle youth in Ethiopia with psychological supports, more specifically self-affirmation and goal-setting, in terms of job search and employment outcomes. Out-of-work vulnerable youth between the age of 18 and 30 in Addis Ababa were invited to participate in the project and then randomly assigned to a control group or one of two treatment arms. For the first treatment, they were invited to attend a behaviorally informed three-hour workshop focused on self-affirmation, while in the second treatment the workshop also included a goal-setting exercise.
Intervention Start Date
2018-04-10
Intervention End Date
2018-07-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
We will study the effects of the treatments on two primary families of outcomes: (i) job search and (ii) economic activity.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
1. Job search: summary index of extensive and intensive margin measures of job search.
More specifically:
(a) Actively searched for a job last week
(b) Number of days searched for a job last 7 days.
(c) Number of hours searched for a job last time (day).
2. Employment: summary index of extensive and intensive margin measures of job search.
More specifically:
(a) Engaged in productive activity last week (includes wage and self employment)
(b) Number of days engaged in productive activity last 7 days.
(c) Number of hours engaged in productive activity last time (day).

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
For the secondary analysis we will look at the earnings (both from wage employment and self-employment) of individuals in the past seven days.
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)
We will look at day profit (Earnings in the last 7 days). This takes the value of zero for those not working. Winzorized at 99 percent.

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Participants were recruited from seven woredas of two of the poorest sub-cities of Addis
Ababa. In the sub-city of Kolfe-Keranio, participants were recruited from in woredas 2, 3, 8,
11 and 13, while in the Lideta sub-city participants were recruited from woredas 3 and 4. According
to World Bank estimates, the poverty rate under the national poverty line was above
25 percent of the population for 2015/16 in all listed woredas. Participants were recruited using
a random walk method starting in randomly selected points within each selected woreda.

Around 2,500 individuals were screened using three conditions: i) between 18-30 years of
age, ii) not enrolled or attending school (of any kind) and iii) not engaged in an economic
productive activity in the last week. At the end, 1,979 individuals were eligible invited to
participate in the program and of those, 1,766 individuals provided consent and were then
recruited into the program and were administered the baseline questionnaire.
Recruited participants were stratified by gender and randomly allocated into one of three
arms: (i) a pure control (C); (ii) a self-affirmation workshop (SA); or (iii) a self-affirmation +
goal setting (GS). A separate randomization took place for each Woreda, implying that we are
implicitly blocking by Woreda.

The procedure followed was: (a) enumerators conducted a listing exercise to assess eligibility
and consent; (b) participants were randomized into three groups once the listing was
completed for each woreda; (c) the baseline survey was administered to all consenting participants;
(d) individuals were informed of the lottery results immediately after the survey and
(e) participants assigned to the treatment groups were given time slots to choose from for the
corresponding workshops.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Randomization was done in the office by a computer.
Randomization Unit
The randomization was done at the individual level.
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
1766 individuals
Sample size: planned number of observations
1766 individuals
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
600 individuals in the control group, and approximately 550 in each of the two treatment arms.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Our calculations predict that we would be able to detect if a mean difference of 0.05 in the probability of having searched for work in the last seven days between treatment and control groups (i.e. treatment effect coefficient of the behavioral workshop). This is aiming for a statistical power of 0.8 and significance level of .1 and using as parameter for the control group a mean probability of 0.30 and a standard deviation 0.49.
Supporting Documents and Materials

There is information in this trial unavailable to the public. Use the button below to request access.

Request Information
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
University of Oxford (CUREC)
IRB Approval Date
2018-01-16
IRB Approval Number
SSD/CUREC1A/BSG_C1A-18-001Amendment 3
Analysis Plan

There is information in this trial unavailable to the public. Use the button below to request access.

Request Information

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

There is information in this trial unavailable to the public. Use the button below to request access.

Request Information

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