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Yalla Watheefa Impact Evaluation

Last registered on September 24, 2013

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Yalla Watheefa Impact Evaluation
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0000076
First published
September 24, 2013, 2:17 PM EDT

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

Locations

Region

Primary Investigator

Affiliation
World Bank

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2013-05-15
End date
2014-06-30
Secondary IDs
Abstract
Yalla Watheefa (Let's Get a Job) is a pilot program designed to help connect youth to job opportunities, and to measure the willingness of youth to apply for different types of jobs. The program works with around 2000 university and community college graduates in Jordan, and attempts to link them to job openings in a wide range of occupations. A random sample of graduates will be linked to each job opening, and the project will measure whether these graduates are willing to apply for different jobs, their performance in job interviews, and whether this process of facilitating matching of youth to open jobs is able to increase their employment.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
McKenzie, David. 2013. "Yalla Watheefa Impact Evaluation." AEA RCT Registry. September 24. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.76-2.0
Former Citation
McKenzie, David. 2013. "Yalla Watheefa Impact Evaluation." AEA RCT Registry. September 24. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/76/history/200021
Sponsors & Partners

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
2005 Jordanian youth who were looking for employment applied to participate in the Yalla Watheefa program. This program then works to identify firms looking for new employees in a wide range of positions. For each position identified, youth are grouped into strata according to gender, major, and expressed willingness to work in low-skilled jobs. A random sample of youth are then invited to apply for the job, and we track whether they apply, whether they obtain an interview, and whether this ultimately leads to a job.
Intervention (Hidden)
Intervention Start Date
2013-07-21
Intervention End Date
2013-11-30

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Applied for any Job, Applied for a Job in a Low Prestige Occupation, Received an Interview, Received a Job Offer
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
Low Prestige Jobs are defined as jobs in telemarketing,outdoor sales, administration assistants, customer care, indoor sales, data entry, copy editor, retail, and waitering.

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
A sample size of 2005 individuals will be divided into strata which are defined on a job by job basis. Randomization takes place each time there is a job offer, with typically 100-150 individuals chosen to be invited to apply for each job, with higher probability of being chosen for those who are deemed to be a good fit for the job on offer. Typically 2/3rds will be chosen from "good fit" strata, and 1/3rd from "bad fit" strata. For more skilled jobs, some strata will also be declared "no fit" and be given zero probability of being chosen.
The number of job openings will depend on employer demand.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Randomization in Stata in office on a job by job basis.
Randomization Unit
Randomization at the individual job-seeker level
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
2005 Individuals
Sample size: planned number of observations
2005 Individuals
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
To be determined, since it depends on the number of jobs, and number of positions for each. For each job, approximately 100 individuals are chosen for treatment, with replacement.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
IRB Approval Date
IRB Approval Number

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
Yes
Intervention Completion Date
December 31, 2012, 12:00 +00:00
Data Collection Complete
Yes
Data Collection Completion Date
May 30, 2013, 12:00 +00:00
Final Sample Size: Number of Clusters (Unit of Randomization)
1354 students
Was attrition correlated with treatment status?
No
Final Sample Size: Total Number of Observations
1354 students
Final Sample Size (or Number of Clusters) by Treatment Arms
1011 treated students, 343 control students
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
Yes

Program Files

Program Files
Yes
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Abstract
We test the role of search and matching frictions in explaining the high unemployment
of tertiary-educated youth in Jordan through a randomized experiment. Firms and job
candidates were provided with a job-matching service based on educational
backgrounds and psychometric assessments. Although more than 1,000 matches
were made, youth rejected the opportunity of an interview in 28 percent of cases, and
when a job offer was received, they rejected this offer or quickly quit the job 83 percent
of the time. The results suggest voluntary unemployment in this context arises from
preferences over non-wage job attributes.
Citation
Matthew Groh, David McKenzie, Nour Shammout and Tara Vishwanath (2015) "Testing the importance of search frictions and matching through a randomized experiment in Jordan", IZA Journal of Labor Economics, 4:7

Reports & Other Materials