Experimental Evidence on the Effect of Employer Outreach on Work Sharing Participation

Last registered on August 10, 2026
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Experimental Evidence on the Effect of Employer Outreach on Work Sharing Participation
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0017066
Initial registration date
August 07, 2026

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
August 10, 2026, 4:43 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
Swapnil Motghare
Affiliation
University of California Los Angeles
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Till von Wachter
PI Affiliation
University of California Los Angeles
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PI Name
Eric Wilson
PI Affiliation
University of California Los Angeles
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PI Name
Kara Segal
PI Affiliation
University of California Los Angeles
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Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2026-09-01
End date
2029-08-31
Keywords
Labor
Additional Keywords
work sharing, short time compensation, nudges, encouragement design
JEL code(s)
J65, C93
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
The Work Sharing (WS) program is designed to help employers avoid layoffs by allowing them to reduce hours across their workforce during temporary downturns rather than laying off a subset of workers. Despite its potential to stabilize employment, take‑up of WS remains low in the United States: only 30 states operate a WS program, and Short‑Time Compensation claims rarely exceed 1 percent of all Unemployment Insurance claims. This study evaluates whether outreach to employers increases awareness and take‑up of the WS program, and whether increased program participation affects employer and worker labor‑market outcomes. We implement an Encouragement Design Randomized Controlled Trial, in which a random sample of WS‑eligible firms in California (the “treatment group”) will receive outreach about the program, while the remaining firms (the “control group”) will not. The outreach will be delivered using physical mails and emails. We will estimate the causal effect of outreach on WS awareness and take‑up by comparing employers and their workers across treatment and control groups. To estimate the effect of WS take‑up on employer and worker labor‑market outcomes, we use an instrumental‑variables strategy in which randomized outreach serves as an instrument for WS participation. Outcomes are measured using an employer follow‑up survey and linked administrative data on employer‑employee earnings and program participation.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Motghare, Swapnil et al. 2026. "Experimental Evidence on the Effect of Employer Outreach on Work Sharing Participation." AEA RCT Registry. August 10. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.17066-1.0
Sponsors & Partners

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
The intervention will consist of physical mail (stand-alone and inserts in existing EDD notices) and emails, designed to inform employers in the treatment group about the WS program.
Intervention Start Date
2026-09-01
Intervention End Date
2027-08-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
A. Firm outcomes: WS take-up, WS awareness, Firm survival, Likelihood of mass layoff, Employee turnover (Number of Employee Separations / Total Employment)
B. Worker outcomes: Probability of layoff, Quarterly earnings, Employment

Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
A. Firm outcomes: the proportion with WS claims, the number of workers with WS benefits, the number of Full-Time Equivalent workers on WS, WS benefits paid, UI benefit charges, WS benefits/ UI Benefit charges, Number of employee separations, and Total employment
B. Worker outcomes: Job tenure, Probability of WS, Employment with same employer, and Employment in same industry

Secondary Outcomes (explanation)
For workers receiving WS benefit payments, we will use the benefit payment divided by the weekly benefit amount to compute the percent reduction in each worker’s hours and the number of workers on WS will be expressed on a full-time equivalent (FTE) basis.

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
We will implement an Encouragement Design Randomized Controlled Trial, in which a random sample of WS‑eligible firms in California (the “treatment group”) will receive targeted outreach about the program, while the remaining firms (the “control group”) will not. The outreach will be delivered using physical mails and emails.
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
Within each stratum, we apply the three‑variable hierarchic serpentine ordering procedure using UI Benefit charge and employment as implicit stratifiers. The stratification and assignment of firms to treatment and control group will be done by a computer program.
Randomization Unit
firm
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
We stratify the sample of firms on firm size, industry, and geographic region. Specifically, we define strata based on: A dedicated stratum for firms with 1000+ employees, and 15 Regional Planning Units (RPUs) x 20 NAICS 2‑digit industries, and a separate stratum for firms with missing industry or RPU, which yields 302 strata in total. To avoid strata with few firms, we combine some strata eventually ending with 198 strata.
Sample size: planned number of observations
Approx 520,000
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
Approx. 260,000 firms in treatment and 260,000 firms in control group.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
First-stage outcomes: (i) WS take-up: 0.02 percentage points (p.p.); 35% (ii) WS awareness: 1.7 p.p.; 7% Second-stage outcomes: The MDE depends on the observed WS take-up effect. For observed WS take-up effect of 3 p.p. (i) Firm survival: 11.4 p.p.; 15% (ii) Firm turnover: 9.5 p.p.; 61.6% (iii) Probability of worker layoff: 2.1 p.p.; 41.7% (iv) Probability of worker employment: 4.4 p.p.; 6.3% (v) log (Worker Quarterly earnings): 9.1 log points; 2.1% For observed WS take-up effect of 7 p.p. (vi) Firm mass layoff: 1.4; 88.7%
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
UCLA North General Institutional Review Board
IRB Approval Date
2026-04-22
IRB Approval Number
IRB-25-2261
Analysis Plan