Can a job app help rural migrants who lost their jobs in the COVID lockdown re-integrate into urban labour markets?

Last registered on May 13, 2021
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Can a job app help rural migrants who lost their jobs in the COVID lockdown re-integrate into urban labour markets?
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0007401
Initial registration date
April 07, 2021

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
April 07, 2021, 10:33 AM EDT

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

Last updated
May 13, 2021, 3:12 AM EDT

Last updated is the most recent time when changes to the trial's registration were published.

Locations

Country
India
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Bhaskar Chakravorty
Affiliation
Warwick University
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Clement Imbert
PI Affiliation
Warwick University
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PI Name
Roland Rathelot
PI Affiliation
Warwick University
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PI Name
Apurav Bhatia
PI Affiliation
Warwick University
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PI Name
Poonam Panda
PI Affiliation
J-PAL South Asia
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PI Name
Maximilian Lohnert
PI Affiliation
J-PAL South Asia
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Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2021-02-01
End date
2021-12-31
Keywords
Labor, Welfare
Additional Keywords
JEL code(s)
J2, J3, J6
Secondary IDs
Abstract
The study is motivated by the policy challenge of re-integrating recent graduates from a large scale training program in India (DDU-GKY) back into the labour market following the massive job losses caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. The DDU-GKY programme targets rural poor youth, and provides short-term training with guaranteed job placement. This study seeks to evaluate the effectiveness of an app-based job platform that matches job seekers with employers, using an encouragement design. The Jharkhand State Livelihood Promotion Society (JSLPS) has called 1,122 rural youth, randomly selected from 2,260 former DDU-GKY trainees from Bihar and Jharkhand, to inform them about the government-supported app Yuva Sampark and help them register. The main outcomes of this study are job search activities and employment rates in the sample.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Bhatia, Apurav et al. 2021. "Can a job app help rural migrants who lost their jobs in the COVID lockdown re-integrate into urban labour markets?." AEA RCT Registry. May 13. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.7401-1.1
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
The intervention informs 1,122 former DDU-GKY trainees randomly selected from a sample of 2,260, about the Yuva Sampark App, a platform with job vacancies that users can apply to. During the phone calls respondents are offered support to register on the App and apply for jobs. After the treated group is informed about the Yuva Sampark App, the full sample is surveyed to test the effectiveness of the experiment.
Intervention Start Date
2021-02-01
Intervention End Date
2021-04-10

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Salaried employment
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Registration on the app, Job search intensity, Job search preferences
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)
Job search intensity: number of jobs applied to in the past 2 months, number of job applications, mode of job search;
Job search preferences: Location of job search, Occupation of jobs

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
We randomise at the trainee level, with two treatment arms (call + information, or no call), with a probability of half-half. We stratify the randomisation by state, sector, gender and treatment status in the previous experiment (part of our sample have been subject to another intervention in the past).
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Randomisation done in office by a computer
Randomization Unit
Individual trainees
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
2260 trainees
Sample size: planned number of observations
2260 trainees
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
1122 in treatment arm and 1138 in control arm
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
We consider a power of 80% and a significance level of 5%. For the main outcome (salaried employment), we assume a base mean of 20%. For a sample of 2200, the minimum detectable intention-to-treat is 4.8 percentage points.
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
IFMR
IRB Approval Date
2021-03-02
IRB Approval Number
IRB00007107
Analysis Plan

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Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
No
Data Collection Complete
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials