Mismatch in the valuation of skills by employers and workers

Last registered on May 13, 2024
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Mismatch in the valuation of skills by employers and workers
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0013575
Initial registration date
May 08, 2024

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
May 13, 2024, 12:27 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
Manuel Munoz
Affiliation
Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2024-05-08
End date
2024-07-31
Keywords
Behavior, Labor
Additional Keywords
Cognitive skills, non-cognitive skills, transition to work
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
This project aims to understand if there is a mismatch between the skills potential workers believe are most valuable in the labor market and the skills employers value. This is a fundamental question to help promote better matching between workers and employers. For this, I will conduct a field experiment in two different populations. One represents the supply side of labor (potential workers), the other the demand side (potential employers).

Potential workers are all college students that have joined a training program to develop non-cognitive skills. In this training they are assessed on 8 different measures of cognitive and non-cognitive abilities. As part of the program, they will receive a report summarizing their performance on each of the 8 skills. On top of that, they are offered an institutional certificate for three skills of their choosing. This certification of skills can be attached to their CV. One group is told about the certification. A second group is also informed of the potential value such a certificate for the labor market. I will evaluate whether participants are interested in receiving the certificate and conditional on accepting, the skills that are chosen.

Potential employers are all MBA students that also work as managers and decision-makers in firms. They also will be taken from the population of students who have joined a training program to develop non-cognitive skills (this is a separate cohort from the college students). In addition to assessing their skills, they will be asked to indicate their views on which skills are most valuable for different types of jobs. This group is complementary to the supply-side group, and they all receive the same information.

The data collection is conducted by the Social Behavior and Experimental Economics Laboratory (Social Bee Lab) in Colombia, which is hosted at Universidad Autonoma de Bucaramanga (UNAB).
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Munoz, Manuel. 2024. "Mismatch in the valuation of skills by employers and workers." AEA RCT Registry. May 13. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.13575-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
I use an information intervention. Participants in a training program that involves an assessment of different skills will be offered the possibility to receive an institutional document that certifies 3 of their skills. A random group will be also informed of the value of such a certificate in the labor market.
Intervention Start Date
2024-05-09
Intervention End Date
2024-07-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
(1) Take-up of the certificate by potential workers, (2) Selection of skills to be certified on, (3) Mismatch between skills chosen by potential workers and skills most valued by potential employers
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
In the experiment potential workers (college students) are assigned to either a baseline condition where they are informed that they can receive an institutional certification on their skills or they are also told about the value of such a certification for the labor market. Then, they are asked whether they want to receive such a certification and which skills they want to receive in it.

In complement, potential employers (managers in an MBA program) are asked to indicate their views and valuation of different skills in the labor market.
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
Potential workers will be randomized into the baseline or Info condition in an office using a computer.
Randomization Unit
Randomization will be at the individual level
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
There will be about 1000 participants in the first part (potential worker), which are all students registered in a training program.
There will be about 700 participants in the second part (potential employers), which are all students registered in a training program.
Sample size: planned number of observations
In total, I plan to have up to 1700 observation: 1000 on the supply side and 700 on the demand sidee
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
Out of the 1000 in the supply side, I will randomly assign half (500) to the baseline and the rest to the Info condition. The 700 potential employers are not randomized into treatments, as their responses are used to match those of the potential workers
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Universidad Autonoma de Bucaramanga
IRB Approval Date
2024-04-10
IRB Approval Number
N/A
IRB Name
UNISANGIL
IRB Approval Date
2024-04-10
IRB Approval Number
N/A
Analysis Plan