Employment Agencies and Hiring Frictions in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Last registered on February 13, 2023
View Trial History

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Employment Agencies and Hiring Frictions in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0009224
Initial registration date
April 13, 2022

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 14, 2022, 11:55 AM EDT

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

Last updated
February 13, 2023, 6:02 PM EST

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

Locations

Country
Ethiopia
Region
Addis Ababa

Primary Investigator

Name
David Wu
Affiliation
UC Berkeley
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2022-05-02
End date
2023-05-01
Keywords
Firms & Productivity, Labor
Additional Keywords
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial is based on or builds upon one or more prior RCTs.
Abstract
Private firms in developing countries face many hiring frictions. Increasingly, firms use employment agencies to find professional workers. How may employment agencies improve firms’ hiring outcomes? We focus on a new type of employment agencies in Ethiopia who match skilled labor to professional jobs. We sample 800 private firms with a job vacancy, and randomly match an employment agency to half of the vacancies to provide an extra applicant. Enumerators will conduct the first follow-up survey one month after to collect details of applicants and employers' perceptions of workers' productivity and outside options. Enumerators will conduct the second follow-up five months after to collect match quality outcomes for the hired workers.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Wu, David. 2023. "Employment Agencies and Hiring Frictions in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia." AEA RCT Registry. February 13. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.9224-2.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2022-05-02
Intervention End Date
2023-05-01

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Match success rate: Whether employer hires at least one worker within 1 month, whether employer hires at least one worker recommended from the employment agencies/not from the employment agencies.
Match quality: Whether the hired worker quits voluntarily after 5 months, whether the hired worker is considered more productive, whether the hired workers exert more effort on the job.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Mechanism: The percentage of all applicants/skilled applicants considered high productivity, the percentage of all applicants/skilled applicants considered low outside options, whether the employer hires any applicant/skilled applicant perceived with high productivity, whether the employer hires any applicant/skilled applicant perceived with low outside options, whether the employer hires at least one worker and decreases negotiated salary
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Control: 400 firms
Treatment: 400 firms will be matched with a recruitment agency in Addis Ababa. The recruitment agency will recommend a qualified worker in addition to the existing applicant pool.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
A pre-determined randomization file will sign a treatment status to sampled firms.
Randomization Unit
The treatment will be clustered by business areas.
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
80 business areas
Sample size: planned number of observations
800 firms
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
40 business areas in control, 40 business areas in treatment
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
The Committee for Protection of Human Subjects
IRB Approval Date
2021-08-17
IRB Approval Number
2021-06-14382
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