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When Parents Are in the Room: Experimental Evidence on Job Information and Youth Job Search

Last registered on August 19, 2026
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
When Parents Are in the Room: Experimental Evidence on Job Information and Youth Job Search
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0015031
Initial registration date
February 02, 2025

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
February 05, 2025, 8:52 AM EST

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

Last updated
August 19, 2026, 3:35 PM EDT

Last updated is the most recent time when changes to the trial's registration were published.

Locations

Country
Egypt
Region
Minia
Country
Egypt
Region
Assuit
Country
Egypt
Region
Al Fayoum
Country
Egypt
Region
Sohag
Country
Egypt
Region
Bani Swif
Country
Egypt
Region
Qena

Primary Investigator

Name
Abdelrahman Nagy
Affiliation
UNU merit
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2024-08-25
End date
2025-01-31
Keywords
Behavior, Gender, Labor
Additional Keywords
Social Norms, Parental Pressure, Labor Market, Job Placement. Job attributes
JEL code(s)
C93, Q12, J21, D91, J24, J64
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
Employment programs deliver job information to individual jobseekers, although employment decisions are often made within households. We study both margins in two separately randomized experiments covering 11,781 unemployed youth in rural Upper Egypt: what concrete, verified, tailored job information does on its own, and whether the household configuration in which the same information is delivered changes what youth do with it. Information moves behavior sharply. It raises the probability of taking a concrete step toward employment by 16.1 percentage points in the first experiment and 11.2 in the second, against control rates near a third, and men and women respond alike despite very different prior work histories. It produces no statistically detectable employment gain within seven to eight weeks. Conditional on the same information, parental co-presence has little detectable effect for sons. For daughters, father and mother co-presence generate short-run increases of about five percentage points in action on the offered opportunities; the two estimates are statistically indistinguishable, and their estimated trajectories subsequently diverge. Involving both parents has no detectable effect. Information appears sufficient to move youth from awareness to action but not to carry that action into employment over this horizon.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Nagy, Abdelrahman. 2026. "When Parents Are in the Room: Experimental Evidence on Job Information and Youth Job Search." AEA RCT Registry. August 19. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.15031-1.1
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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
In our experiment, we aimed to address all these challenges comprehensively. To begin, we tackled the issue of job suitability by collecting job opportunities at the village, district, and governorate levels. These jobs were then classified into different categories. Next, we gathered data from job seekers and their parents to match their needs, qualifications, and interests with suitable job opportunities. The objective of this step was to provide tailored job matches while addressing information barriers as effectively as possible.
By offering these job opportunities at the household level, we sought to mitigate additional challenges such as financial barriers, uncertainty about the jobs, and the risk of sexual harassment during transportation. Collecting data separately from youth and their parents allowed us to identify any gaps in expectations regarding the types of jobs and the associated requirements for youth versus their parents.
Subsequently, we presented job opportunities to the youth in stages: first to the youth alone, then in the presence of their fathers, and finally in the presence of their mothers. This approach enabled us to explore the role of parental involvement in the decision-making process and its impact on job acceptance. Assigning youth to each group with random on households, individual level.
At a later stage, we randomised the offering of jobs to youth alone versus another group that included both parents. The objective was to compare the outcomes of offering jobs to youth alone, offering jobs to youth along with their fathers, and offering jobs to youth along with their mothers. To further examine the impact of involving both parents, we also randomised the offering of jobs to youth alone versus offering jobs to youth with the inclusion of both parents.
Selection criteria:
1- Age: 18-35 years.
2- Employment: Unemployed and interested in work
3- Parents: the presence of both parents in the house
4- 50% of the sample females as much as we could
5- If we have male and female within the same household, we choose one gender, which we pick randomly
The Randomization will be divided into two separate experiments that will be combined in the analysis phase:
The first experiment will include:
• Youth alone (no parental involvement).
• Youth + fathers (father involvement).
• Youth + mothers (mother involvement).
• Youth control (control group with no intervention).
The second experiment will include:
• Youth alone (no parental involvement).
• Youth + both parents (both parents involved).
• Youth control (control group with no intervention).
Intervention (Hidden)
Intervention Start Date
2024-08-25
Intervention End Date
2025-01-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
1- Job suitability: Conditional on the details of the job: We will check if involving partners will change and if jobs are suitable for youth or not. We will also see if involving parents can change the suitability. This will be disaggregated by gender, age, and location.
2- Job search: we will examine whether youth talk about any actions based on the involvement of any of the parents or both. This will be disaggregated by gender, age, and location.
3- Job search intensity: we will look into how strong the action the youth take to join the labor force based on the treatment arm. This will be disaggregated by gender, age, and location.
4- Joining the labor force
5- We will examine whether the job search or actions will differ or change over time.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
1- Job preferences: looking if job preferences differ based on gender, educational background, or others
1.1 If there is any difference in job preferences between youth and their parents
1.2 If job preferences differ between youth and their parents (pluralistic ignorance)
1.3 What youth are aiming for (job, marriage, migration, ..) and if differs based on gender, age, educational background) as well as the involvement of parents.

2- Type of jobs available in each village, district, and governorate.
2.1 If these jobs prefer a specific gender, educational background, or age, …)
2..2 Gaps in jobs available specifications and what youth are looking for)
3- What is the percentage of youth who are interested in self-employment, and why?
3.1 What is the most suitable type of capital assistance, and does it differ based on gender, age, or educational background)
3.2 Are they interested in training, and what are the training types they are interested in?
4- Job specifications or requirements: we will look if the expectations for jobs will differ based on gender or based on the involvement of the father, the mother, or both of them
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
In our experiment, we aimed to address all these challenges comprehensively. To begin, we tackled the issue of job suitability by collecting job opportunities at the village, district, and governorate levels. These jobs were then classified into different categories. Next, we gathered data from job seekers and their parents to match their needs, qualifications, and interests with suitable job opportunities. The objective of this step was to provide tailored job matches while addressing information barriers as effectively as possible.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Randomization will be done using Survey CTO on houshold level
Randomization Unit
Household-level
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
8000 Household
Sample size: planned number of observations
8000
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
Almost 1500 for each arm and the same for the second experiment. The overall sample for both experiments will be around 8000
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
The American Univeristy in Cairo
IRB Approval Date
2024-08-22
IRB Approval Number
CASE #2023-2024-246
IRB Name
Ethical Review Committee Inner City Faculties (ERCIC), University of Maastricht
IRB Approval Date
2024-11-01
IRB Approval Number
ERCIC_597_31_07_2024_Nillesen
Analysis Plan

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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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