Stigma and Labor Supply

We designed a three-stage experiment. In stage 1, surveyors will perform a door-to-door survey with favela residents and ask questions about their socioeconomic characteristics and previous work experiences. During the survey, participants will be asked if they want to share their information with an HR firm (composed of the research team members), which will send them real job ads from our partner. The participants will also perform a skill test and share their beliefs and attitudes about address-based discrimination.

In stage 2, one to eight days after a jobseeker answers the survey from stage 1, the HR firm contacts that person via WhatsApp with an invitation to apply for a set of real full-time sales jobs. Applicants can then fill out an application form. We randomize whether applicants need to disclose their home address to apply, manipulating whether they can expect to suffer address-based discrimination or not.

In stage 3, we invite eligible jobseekers for an interview. Before the interview, with objectivity as the pretext, the receptionist either tells candidates that the interviewer knows their name only or their name and address.

2023-03-06

2023-07-30

In stage 2:
Progress-related:
- Completing the job application form
- Showing up for the Interview

Effort-related:
- Effort in application form: Length and quality of the text the jobseeker wrote about themselves when applying for the job.

Strategy-related:
- Strategic information disclosure: declaring or omitting information on jobs and courses taken in the favela, inflating the duration of job experiences.
- Share of individuals misrepresenting their addresses when applying to the job (not an outcome per se, but an important descriptive statistic).


Outcomes in stage 3:
- Overall interview performance
- Nervousness as assessed by the interviewer and self-assessed
- Formality/professionalism, as assessed by the interviewer and self-assessed.

Stage 2:
- Clicking the job application form.
- Perceptions about the job-search process and interactions with firms after the stage-2 treatment (collected in phone survey, see below)

Stage 3:
- Self-assessed interview performance
- Specific behaviors during interview, that could signal stress or discomfort
- Information disclosure during interview
- Question-wise performance in interview
- Interviewee’s perceptions about the interviewer (professionalism, preparedness) and HR firm (inclusiveness).

We will conduct a quality-check + brief survey over the phone with those participating in stage 2, about ten days after they receive the job invite message. This will try to confirm information provided during the door-to-door survey (to assure participation requirements are being enforced), and will also briefly ask about how the jobseeker’s search has progressed.

The design is mainly explained together with the intervention description.

For stage-2 treatments, stage 1 respondents are randomized into one of the three treatment groups with equal probability. We will stratify the randomization by predicted discrimination.

For stage 3, those who completed the job application form are randomized into the two treatments with equal probability. We will stratify the randomization by predicted discrimination and stage-2 treatment status.

Not available

Randomization done by a computer. Randomization will proceed in batches every few days, since all stages overlap.

Individual

No

2500 participants

2500 participants

Stage 2: 833 participants in each arm.
Stage 3: 350 interviewees in each arm, assuming a 35% application rate and 85% interview show-up rate.

Sample sizes are target values and are subject to budget constraints.

MDEs for 80% of power at 5% size. Pairwise comparisons of main stage-2 outcomes: - about 6pp (18%), with covariate adjustment (gauged from pilot), for application and show-up rate - 0.14 standard deviation for effort measure Address Omission vs. other arms pooled: - 5.4pp for application and show-up rate - 0.12 standard deviation for effort measure Effort measures: 0-10 subjective scale outcomes in stage 3: 0.2 standard deviations