RESEA in Montana - Reemployment Central Services

Last registered on March 13, 2023
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
RESEA in Montana - Reemployment Central Services
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0010731
Initial registration date
March 08, 2023

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 13, 2023, 3:08 PM EDT

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

Locations

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Primary Investigator

Name
Christopher Bradley
Affiliation
MT Dept of Labor & Industry
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Logan Hendrix
PI Affiliation
MT Dept of Labor & Industry
Contact Investigator
PI Name
Tyler Boesch
PI Affiliation
Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis
Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2023-03-06
End date
2025-06-30
Keywords
Governance, Labor, Welfare
Additional Keywords
Unemployment Insurance, Reemployment, RESEA
JEL code(s)
J29
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
The RESEA program (Reemployment Services and Eligibility Assessment) is a program administered by 48 states in the U.S. that provides Unemployment Insurance (UI) recipients with assistance in finding work through one-on-one appointments with career coaches. While the program has existed for some time, little research is available on the efficacy of the program, or specific services offered to the participants, at improving employment rates or earnings. Starting in March 2023, Montana's Department of Labor and Industry will begin a random control trial investigation to study the impact of supplementing the program with services offered on a virtual platform, "Reemployment Central". Using random assignment, half MT RESEA participants will be placed in a treatment group that will be asked to complete supplemental virtual activities geared towards reemployment prior to attending a typical RESEA appointment. These activities consist of a requirement to log into a website, complete a resume checklist, and participate in two additional activities of their choice prior to their assigned RESEA meeting. The control group will be asked to participate in the program per the status quo. This randomized control trial will be used to determine whether the quality of the RESEA appointment can be improved, as measured by employment and earnings outcomes, with supplemental activities outside of the one-on-one appointment typically offered by the program.
External Link(s)
MT Dept of Labor and Industry's RESEA program page

Registration Citation

Citation
Boesch, Tyler, Christopher Bradley and Logan Hendrix. 2023. "RESEA in Montana - Reemployment Central Services." AEA RCT Registry. March 13. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.10731-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2023-03-06
Intervention End Date
2023-10-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Unemployment Insurance claims duration (weeks of benefits claimed)
Employment status (presence of UI wages in a given quarter)
Wage earnings (total UI-covered wages, quarterly)
Job training program take-up (presence of program enrollment and additional service provision)
RESEA participation (appointment completion status)
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
There are two different comparisons being tested: between no RESEA enrollment vs receiving RESEA services; and between the core RESEA services and the enhanced virtual services.

Receiving RESEA services regression discontinuity: UI claimants are selected into RESEA enrollment based upon a "Profiling Score" that estimates the likelihood of a claimant exhausting their UI benefits. Each week, the 100 claimants with the highest profiling scores are selected into the program. Those claimants near the score cutoff comprise the two study groups: the Treatment group consisting of those selected into the RESEA program at the lower end of the profiling scores; and the Control consisting of those not selected into the RESEA program at the upper end of the profiling scores.

These claimants near the margins of program selection can form the basis of a counterfactual of those claimants not receiving services, to be compared with those just on the other side of the selection threshold. Over the course of many weeks, claimants with similar scores are included, or excluded, from selection while having similar profiling scores to claimants that had the opposite result in other weeks.


Core RESEA services vs enhanced virtual RESEA services randomized control trial: each week, once the selection of UI claimants into RESEA has been made, half will be randomly assigned to receive the enhanced virtual services. The half of RESEA participants that are selected for enhanced services comprise the Treatment group, while the half of RESEA participants who are not selected and receive the core services comprise the Control group.
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
Randomization done using R script, automated randomization.
Randomization Unit
Individual
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
2600 individuals
Sample size: planned number of observations
2600 individuals
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
1300 individuals control and 1300 individuals receiving enhanced virtual training
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
IRB Approval Date
IRB Approval Number
Analysis Plan