Workplace Attributes and Women’s Labor Supply Decisions: Evidence from a Randomized Experiment

Last registered on August 29, 2019

View Trial History

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title

Workplace Attributes and Women’s Labor Supply Decisions: Evidence from a Randomized Experiment

RCT ID

AEARCTR-0004639

First published

August 29, 2019, 6:29 PM EDT

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

Locations

Country

Pakistan

Region

Primary Investigator

Name

Nivedhitha Subramanian

Affiliation

Bates College

Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status

On going

Start date

2018-07-12

End date

2020-08-31

Keywords

Gender, Labor

Additional Keywords

Information, Labor Supply, Gender

JEL code(s)

Secondary IDs

Abstract

Women’s educational attainment has increased substantially, but women’s labor supply in terms of labor force participation, wages, etc, has not experienced a commensurate increase in many developing countries. Such labor markets are often also characterized by imperfect information; in some cases coupled with social norms stigmatizing women’s work outside the home. This project studies the impact of information about workplace attributes on educated women’s job application behavior and occupational choice, and the role of family job search advice in these decisions through a randomized experiment in urban Pakistan.

External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation

Subramanian, Nivedhitha. 2019. "Workplace Attributes and Women’s Labor Supply Decisions: Evidence from a Randomized Experiment." AEA RCT Registry. August 29. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.4639-1.0

Former Citation

Subramanian, Nivedhitha. 2019. "Workplace Attributes and Women’s Labor Supply Decisions: Evidence from a Randomized Experiment." AEA RCT Registry. August 29. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/4639/history/52561

Sponsors & Partners

Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)

Intervention Start Date

2019-03-13

Intervention End Date

2019-04-22

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)

job application decisions, beliefs about workplace attributes by occupation, occupational rankings

Primary Outcomes (explanation)

The study is conducted on a job search platform. The main outcome of interest is the application decision, which I measure through administrative data of the platform. Beliefs about workplace attributes by occupation and occupational rankings are measured in an endline survey.

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)

Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

I conduct an information experiment on a labor market platform in Pakistan. Individual jobseekers are randomly selected to receive information about gender-related workplace attributes at positions where they are matched. In a cross-randomization, individuals are primed to think about family job search advice before making their application decisions.

Experimental Design Details

Randomization Method

The randomization is done in office by a computer.

Randomization Unit

The unit of randomization is the individual jobseeker.

Was the treatment clustered?

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters

4081 individuals.

Sample size: planned number of observations

4081 individuals

Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms

1028 are in pure information control. 1,011 individuals receive information about gender composition. 1,022 individuals receive information about gender of the supervisor. 1,020 individuals receive information about both gender composition and gender of the supervisor.

In a cross-randomization, 914 individuals are in the control group for priming about family job search advice. 923 are in the treatment group for priming about family job search advice.

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

Supporting Documents and Materials

IRB