Unemployment Narratives: Worker & Firm Behavior Experiment

Last registered on April 03, 2025
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Unemployment Narratives: Worker & Firm Behavior Experiment
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0015681
Initial registration date
April 01, 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
April 03, 2025, 1:13 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
Johannes Wohlfart
Affiliation
University of Cologne
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Robert Mahlstedt
PI Affiliation
University of Copenhagen
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PI Name
Sonja Settele
PI Affiliation
University of Cologne
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Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2025-04-01
End date
2030-12-31
Keywords
Behavior, Labor
Additional Keywords
JEL code(s)
D83, D84, J64
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
We study the causal effect of different narratives about long-term unemployment on beliefs and behaviors of unemployed job seekers from Denmark.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Mahlstedt, Robert, Sonja Settele and Johannes Wohlfart. 2025. "Unemployment Narratives: Worker & Firm Behavior Experiment." AEA RCT Registry. April 03. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.15681-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
We expose job seekers to different narratives on a randomized basis.
Intervention Start Date
2025-04-01
Intervention End Date
2025-06-30

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
1) Job seekers' beliefs and (intended) behaviors in the job search context as measured in our survey, such as planned search effort, perceived returns to search, willingness to make concessions, the perceived job finding probability, salary expectations and reservation wages.

2) Job seekers' search activities on the online platform of the Danish public employment service (jobnet.dk) measured through click-by-click data and applications registered on the platform.

3) Job seekers' realized labor market outcomes, e.g., job finding probabilities and earnings, as observed in the administrative records from the Danish registers.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
The randomized assignment allows to study the causal effect of exposure to different narratives on beliefs and behaviors in the job search context.
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
Computerized via Qualtrics.
Randomization Unit
Individual
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
We invite approximately 80,000 job seekers (almost all unemployed job seekers in Denmark) through ``digital mail''. We will use one round of reminders in the weeks after the initial invitation to increase the overall response rate. Typically, around 10% of the invitation letters are not delivered. Based on previous experience, we expect to achieve an overall response rate of around 15% among all sent-out letters in our surveys with jobseekers, giving us an expected overall sample size of 12,000 respondents for our main survey.

Follow-up survey: We recontact all respondents that completed the survey about one week after participation. Based on previous experience, we expect response rates of around 60% within the recontacted groups.
Sample size: planned number of observations
12,000.
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
4,000 each for control group, firm behavior narrative treatment group, and worker behavior narrative treatment group.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials

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IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
University of Copenhagen
IRB Approval Date
2025-02-19
IRB Approval Number
N/A
IRB Name
University of Cologne
IRB Approval Date
2025-02-25
IRB Approval Number
240024JW
Analysis Plan

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