Labour market expectations and job search behaviour of young workers in Côte d’Ivoire

Last registered on February 19, 2026
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Labour market expectations and job search behaviour of young workers in Côte d’Ivoire
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0017907
Initial registration date
February 17, 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
February 19, 2026, 7:39 AM EST

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
Natoua Romuald Meango
Affiliation
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Esther Mirjam Girsberger
PI Affiliation
University of Technology Sydney
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PI Name
Richard Moussa
PI Affiliation
Ecole nationale Superieure de Statistiques et d'Economie Appliquee
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PI Name
Nathaniel Gbenro
PI Affiliation
Ecole nationale Superieure de Statistiques et d'Economie Appliquee
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Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2025-06-01
End date
2026-08-31
Keywords
Labor
Additional Keywords
Job search, unemployment, beliefs
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
Young graduates in Côte d’Ivoire exhibit strong preferences for public-sector employment and appear to hold biased beliefs regarding sectoral wages and employment probabilities. This study evaluates whether providing accurate information about (i) average wages by sector, (ii) employment shares across sectors, or (iii) both, affects job search effort allocation, sectoral preferences, reservation wages, and employment outcomes. Individuals are randomly assigned to a control group or one of three treatment arms receiving sector-specific information tailored by gender and education level. Outcomes include sector-specific search effort, job offers received, employment status, wages, and sectoral sorting. The intervention is informational only and delivered via phone and optional video.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Gbenro, Nathaniel et al. 2026. "Labour market expectations and job search behaviour of young workers in Côte d’Ivoire." AEA RCT Registry. February 19. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.17907-1.0
Sponsors & Partners

Sponsors

Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
A baseline survey of young graduates in Côte d’Ivoire collected detailed information about the following topics:
(1) Workers’ employment and search history, with retrospective data on periods of employment by sector, unemployment, and inactivity, the goal being to reconstruct transition rates across sectors,
(2) labour market beliefs about returns to search in the formal (public and private) and the informal/self-employment sector, in particular perceived benefits and barriers to a micro-enterprise creation,
(3) the allocation of search effort between the different sector, and job search outcomes (callback, interviews, offers),
(4) respondents’ preference over employment in different sectors depending on job characteristics (income, job security, waiting time),
(5) the availability of family support and capital to start one own’s business.
A first baseline involving 2,100 respondents was conducted in May/June 2025. A second one involving 1,100 participants was conducted in December 2025.

Participants from both baseline surveys will be randomly assigned at the census zone level to one of four groups. The intervention consists of providing factual, sample-based information calculated from baseline survey data of young graduates in Côte d’Ivoire.

Treatment arms:

T1 (Wages): Average monthly wages by sector (public, private, self-employment), conditional on full-time employment.

T2 (Employment shares): Sectoral employment distribution (public, private, self-employment, unemployment).

T3 (Combined): Both wage and employment share information.

Information is framed as descriptive averages and does not include recommendations or normative statements. Information is tailored by gender and education level (secondary vs tertiary). The intervention is delivered via phone call, with an optional short video link and link to a webpage.

Two weeks after the intervention, we will conduct a follow-up survey to assess updates in beliefs, preferences, reservation wages, search effort. Four months after the intervention, we will conduct an endline survey to assess updates in beliefs, preferences, reservation wages, search effort, and labour market outcomes.

Follow-up surveys measure job search behaviour, labour market outcomes, and preferences.
Intervention Start Date
2026-03-02
Intervention End Date
2026-03-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
1. Search Effort Allocation
Measured at follow-up and endline:
Hours per week spent searching in each sector
Total search hours
Share of total search time allocated to each sector
Money spent on search per sector
Total search expenditures
Number of applications submitted per sector

2. Job Offers
Number of job offers received
Sector of job offer

3. Employment Outcomes
Employment status (binary)
Sector of employment
Monthly earnings (if employed)
Hours worked
Transition into employment
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
1. Preferences
Stated sector preference ranking
Reservation wage by sector
expected wage by sector
Acceptance probability of hypothetical offers

2. Belief Updating
Post-treatment beliefs about wage distribution in each sector
Post-treatment beliefs about sectoral share, chance to receive an offer, chance to lose a job
For each outcome above, we we look at the revisions relative to baseline beliefs
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Participants from baseline surveys of young graduates in Côte d’Ivoire are randomly assigned at the individual level to one of four groups:

Control: No information provided.

Treatment 1: Information on average monthly wages by sector.

Treatment 2: Information on employment shares by sector (including unemployment).

Treatment 3: Information on both wages and employment shares.

The information is calculated on the sample from the baseline survey. The information is tailored by gender and education level (secondary vs tertiary). The intervention is delivered via phone call, with an optional short video link.

Follow-up surveys measure job search behaviour, labour market outcomes, and preferences.
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
Randomisation done in office by computer.
Randomization Unit
Census Zone.
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
325
Sample size: planned number of observations
3,200 jobseekers
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
about 80 clusters (Census Zone) in control and 80 for each treatment arm, 800 job seekers in each arm.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials

Documents

Document Name
Baseline Questionnaire
Document Type
survey_instrument
Document Description
Baseline Questionnaire that helps to calculate the baseline rate for the information treatment.
File
Baseline Questionnaire

MD5: 31d369ce00577b4da3b7a0a2075ffa86

SHA1: e402cbeca3cd023eed3fa364853fbd2b6e271dee

Uploaded At: February 17, 2026

IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Department's Research Ethics Committee at the Department of Economics, University of Oxford
IRB Approval Date
2024-07-01
IRB Approval Number
ECONCIA23-24-20
Analysis Plan

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