Information Interventions to Facilitate Job Mobility among Migrant Workers

Last registered on September 05, 2018

View Trial History

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title

Information Interventions to Facilitate Job Mobility among Migrant Workers

RCT ID

AEARCTR-0003204

Initial registration date

September 03, 2018

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

September 05, 2018, 10:28 PM EDT

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

Locations

Country

Singapore

Region

Primary Investigator

Name

Slesh A. Shrestha

Affiliation

National University of Singapore

Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name

Dean Yang

PI Affiliation

University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status

On going

Start date

2016-03-01

End date

2019-12-31

Keywords

Labor

Additional Keywords

international migration, job search, incomplete information

JEL code(s)

Secondary IDs

Abstract

Migrant workers face multiple information constraints in their foreign country of employment. Restricted information on vacant jobs increases the costs of searching for new employment. In addition, lack of knowledge about legal rights and regulations regarding changing employers, and incorrect knowledge about market conditions can further restrict labor mobility. This research seeks to test whether relaxing different types of information constraints faced by foreign domestic workers in Singapore improves their labor market outcomes.

External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation

Shrestha, Slesh A. and Dean Yang. 2018. "Information Interventions to Facilitate Job Mobility among Migrant Workers." AEA RCT Registry. September 05. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.3204-1.0

Former Citation

Shrestha, Slesh A. and Dean Yang. 2018. "Information Interventions to Facilitate Job Mobility among Migrant Workers." AEA RCT Registry. September 05. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/3204/history/33892

Sponsors & Partners

Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)

The interventions focused on sharing different types of informations: (1) information on legal rights of FDWs to change employer; (2) information on actual wages and other employment terms and conditions in the Singapore FDW labor market; and (3) information on current job vacancies.

The experiment included 4 treatment arms (and a control group). FDWs who are currently employed in Singapore were randomly assigned to receive either one of the three types of information, or all three information. The control FDWs received no information.

Intervention Start Date

2016-03-01

Intervention End Date

2018-09-30

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)

Employment outcomes: monthly earnings, daily work hours, rest days, and freedom of movement.

Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)

Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

We implemented a randomized field experiment to test the effects of different information interventions on employment outcomes. The study participants were migrant workers who were working as foreign domestic helpers in Singapore. They were randomly assigned to one of the four treatment arms or the control group. All participants were administered a baseline survey, and those selected into the treatment group received the treatment soon thereafter.

All participants were provided with SGD10 for participating in the survey, and they were interviewed in the followup survey via phone or text.

Experimental Design Details

Randomization Method

Randomization was conducted using an built-in algorithm in the survey tablet, which assigned the treatment arm (or control) after the completion of the baseline survey.

Randomization Unit

Individual FDWs

Was the treatment clustered?

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters

N/A

Sample size: planned number of observations

1221 FDWs

Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms

258 FDWs control; 256 FDWs received information on legal rights, 263 FDWs received information on market employment terms and conditions, 226 FDWs received information on job vacancies, and 218 FDWs received all three types of information.

Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)

Supporting Documents and Materials

IRB