Moonlighting and Public Service: Does Allowing Government Workers to Hold Outside Jobs Boost Workplace Productivity?

The intervention consists of providing selected government employees in China with structured support to facilitate engagement in outside (secondary) employment, also known as moonlighting. Participants in the treatment group will receive:

Information sessions about legal, procedural, and practical aspects of holding secondary employment while working in the public sector.
Guidance on how to identify and pursue outside job opportunities, including explanations of relevant policies and step-by-step application procedures.
Personalized consultations to assist participants in communicating with supervisors and navigating potential administrative barriers related to outside employment.
The intervention will be delivered through a combination of group workshops, informational materials, and one-on-one consultations over the course of one year. The control group will not receive any additional information or support regarding outside employment beyond what is routinely available.

2025-09-01

2026-10-01

Workplace Productivity:
Measured through administrative performance evaluations, self-reported productivity scales in surveys, and where possible, unobtrusive observation of work behaviors.

Secondary Employment Uptake:
Whether participants secure or engage in secondary (outside) employment, as measured by self-report and verified with agency administrative records.

Job Satisfaction:
Assessed via validated survey instruments capturing overall job satisfaction and satisfaction with specific job aspects.

Employee Well-Being:
Measured by self-reported well-being indices, including psychological well-being, work-life balance, and financial well-being.

This study is designed as a randomized controlled trial (RCT) to evaluate the effects of supporting secondary employment (“moonlighting”) among government employees on workplace productivity, job satisfaction, and employee well-being in China. The trial will recruit participants from a wide range of public sector agencies, including the Letters and Visits Office, Courts, Public Security Bureau and Police (including the Entry-Exit Administration), Tax Bureau, Civil Affairs Bureau, Human Resources and Social Security Bureau, Market Supervision Administration, Sub-district Offices and Community Committees, Education Bureau, Health Commission, Urban Management/Chengguan, Transport Bureau, and Finance Bureau. Across these departments, the pool of potential participants is estimated to be approximately 7,000 employees. The primary geographical focus will be Guangdong province, with the possibility of expanding to other regions.

Eligible government employees who consent to participate will be randomly assigned to either the treatment group or the control group. Randomization will be conducted at the individual level within each participating department, using a computer-generated random number sequence. To ensure balance across groups, randomization may be stratified by department and/or location.

Participants assigned to the treatment group will receive structured support to facilitate engagement in outside employment. This support includes information sessions about the legal and practical aspects of holding a secondary job, guidance on application procedures and relevant policies, and access to personalized consultations for navigating administrative processes. The control group will not receive any additional information or support related to outside employment beyond what is routinely available through their agencies. The intervention will be delivered over a one-year period through a combination of group workshops, written materials, and individual consultations.

Primary outcomes will be measured at baseline and follow-up, and include workplace productivity (assessed through administrative evaluations, self-reported productivity, and, where feasible, unobtrusive observation), uptake of secondary employment (measured by self-report and verified with administrative data), job satisfaction (using validated survey instruments), and employee well-being (including work-life balance, psychological well-being, and financial well-being). The study will estimate the causal impact of the intervention by comparing outcomes between the treatment and control groups using an intention-to-treat analysis framework, controlling for relevant baseline characteristics and accounting for any clustering by department or location.

Not available

Randomization is conducted at the individual employee level using a computer-generated algorithm. The sample of approximately 7,000 government employees is first stratified by government department (such as Public Security Bureau, Tax Bureau, Education Bureau, etc.) and by regional office within Guangdong province to ensure balanced allocation across these key administrative units. Within each stratum, employees are randomly assigned to either the treatment group or the control group using random numbers generated in Stata.

To ensure optimal balance on important baseline characteristics—including age, gender, years of government service, job rank, and baseline measures of job satisfaction and productivity—a re-randomization procedure is employed. After an initial random allocation, we calculate the maximum and average t-statistics for differences in means of these variables across the two groups. If the maximum t-statistic exceeds 1.25 or the average exceeds 0.35, the randomization is repeated using a new random seed. This process is continued until the pre-specified balance criteria are achieved.

All randomization steps and balance checks are implemented using pre-written Stata code, and the procedure is documented for transparency and replicability.

individual

No

7000 individuals

7000 individuals

3500 in the treatment group, 3500 in the control group,