Impact of Online Job Portals on Youth Unemployment: Experimental Evidence from India

The treated batches receive hands-on training to use the Work India app, while the control batches receive no information about the app. The intervention is conducted two weeks before the end of the training. Candidates across all batches go through a baseline survey but only the treated batches are surprised with Work India training after the survey. The overall training took about one hour and was divided into theoretical and practical components across 5 stages: download, registration, application, change of location, and change of sector. At each stage, candidates receive instructions specific to that stage and between each stage, candidates are given enough time to use the mobile app and complete the tasks.

Download: The candidates are introduced to the Work India app. The app allows candidates to search and apply for jobs online, free of cost, across India. The candidates are explained how to find and install the app from the Android Play Store. Once the app is installed, the candidates are instructed to choose a language, allow location permissions, and log in using their mobile number so that the companies can directly reach out to them.
Registration: The registration stage begins with candidates entering their name, age, email address (optional), display picture (optional) and gender. In the next screen, candidates input their highest educational qualifications, previous work experience, and the sectors in which they would like to search for jobs. The candidates are reminded that for any questions where responses are optional, non-response would not affect their employment changes. We remind candidates to be truthful about all the information that they input and build their resume because employers might check this information and they might lose their job offers. In the end, we remind candidates that job search and application are free of cost on the app.
Application: After completing the registration, we provide a note to the candidates that the jobs visible on the app will differ across candidates because the background information for all the candidates is not the same. In this stage, we explain to the candidates how to view job details (location, experience, education, language requirement, job description, among others) and how to apply for those jobs. We explain post application, there are two paths: either there is an option to call HR directly and speak with them or the applicant details are forwarded to the employer who reaches out to the candidates later.
Change Location: We explain to the candidates how to change their current location and view and apply for jobs across different cities and states in India. We remind candidates that the app displays jobs across cities and does not display jobs by village names. We also nudge the candidates to see how the number of jobs changes as they modify their location.
Change Sector: We explain to the candidates how to change their sector preferences and view and apply for jobs in other sectors. We emphasize candidates explore jobs in the organized sector, i.e., those that provide payslips and credit the salary directly in bank accounts rather than paying cash.

2023-09-04

2023-12-31

The main outcomes are measured using baseline and follow-up survey data across the four dimensions of the training centre, mobile apps/internet, family/friends, and other sources.
1. Job awareness,
2. Job search, applications, interviews, offers, and transition.

1. Job awareness: number of jobs that you are aware of that match your education, skills, and experience across the 4 mediums.
2. Job search, applications, interviews, offers, and transition: in the last two months, how many jobs did you search for, made applications, got an interview call, got a job offer and moved to that job across all 4 mediums.

Secondary outcomes are measured in the follow-up survey. They will be used for interpretation:
1. Employed.
2. Why did you not search for jobs.
3. Preferences on occupation, location, and income.
4. Internet usage.

1. Are you currently employed.
2. A multiple choice question with responses and free text repsonse.
3. personal preferences on occupation, location, and income.
4. how much internet do you use: many hours per day, a few hours per day, a few days a week, never.

At the end of the baseline survey, which is administered to all candidates/batches, we surprise the treated batches with hands-on training to use the Work India app. The treated batches receive hands-on training to use the Work India app, while the control batches receive no information about the app.

The randomization of 20 DDU-GKY batches was stratified by sector of the training.

Randomization done in office by a computer.

DDU-GKY training centre batch.

No

20 batches

500 observations

10 treatment batches and 10 control batches. Approximately 25 candidates per batch.

We consider a power of 80% and a significance level of 5%. For the outcome variable- job awareness through mobile apps/internet, we use the baseline survey data and find a base mean of 4.37, a standard deviation of 3.77, and an intra-cluster correlation of 0.10. The minimum detectable effect for job awareness is 1.77 with 10 clusters per group and 25 observations per cluster. For the outcome variable- job search through mobile apps/internet, we use the data from Chakravorty et al. (2023) and find a base mean of 0.331, a standard deviation of 0.471, and an intra-cluster correlation of 0.10. The minimum detectable effect for job search is 0.217 with 10 clusters per group and 25 observations per cluster.