The Direct and Indirect Effects of Online Job Search Advice

Arbeitspapier

We study how online job search advice affects the job search strategies and labor market outcomes of unemployed workers. In a large-scale field experiment, we provide job seekers with vacancy information and occupational recommendations through an online dashboard. A clustered randomization procedure with regionally varying treatment intensities allows us to account for treatment spillovers. Our results show that online advice is highly effective when the share of treated workers is relatively low: in regions where less than 50% of job seekers are exposed to the treatment, working hours and earnings of treated job seekers increase by 8.5–9.5% in the year after the intervention. At the same time, we find substantial negative spillovers on other treated job seekers for higher treatment intensities, resulting from increased competition between treated job seekers who apply for similar vacancies.

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• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: IZA Discussion Papers ; No. 15830

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Job, Occupational, and Intergenerational Mobility; Promotion ; Labor Demand ; Mobility, Unemployment, and Vacancies: Public Policy ; Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness ; Field Experiments
• Subject: unemployment ; job search ; job search assistance ; public policy ; field experiments ; information frictions ; occupational recommendations ; online advice

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Altmann, Steffen ; Glenny, Anita Marie ; Mahlstedt, Robert ; Sebald, Alexander
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
• (where): Bonn
• (when): 2022

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/272457