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BROWN BAG SEMINARS

June 09, 2022
Elisabeth Leduc PhD candidate @Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management (SBS-EM) - ULB
"Training Jobseekers to Fill Understaffed Jobs: An Experimental Study on Information Barriers"
Discussant : Koen Declercq (UCLouvain - Saint-Louis)

We conduct a large-scale field experiment in the labour market to investigate the role of information frictions in explaining why unemployed jobseekers do not retrain to fill understaffed occupations despite attractive training conditions. Individuals assigned to the treatment group of our experiment received information about the existence of shortage occupations and the availability and advantages of related training programs. Using survey and administrative data, we estimate the effect of the information treatment on perceptions about training programs in shortage occupations, the likelihood of enrolling and finishing such a training, and subsequent employment. Our findings show that the treatment email increased intentions to enrol in training by 4 percentage points. It also increased the relative importance jobseekers attributed to shortage occupations and training as efficient job search strategies.

This is an internal seminar.

More on our BBS

RSAEM

June 16, 2022
Esther Mbih Post-Doctoral researcher at INVEST research-Hub, Finland
"Can a Website Bring Unemployment Down? Effects of a French Online Platform on Job Search Efficiency"

This paper evaluates the impact of an online platform helping job seekers adopt effective job search strategies, using a large-scale randomized experiment. The platform combines labor market data from the French public employment agency and personal data from individual profiles to recommend users occupations and areas with high employment chances and to give them concrete tips to improve their job search methods. The experiment was conducted in collaboration with the French public employment agency on a sample of 212 277 job seekers from April to November 2017. An encouragement design led to a take-up rate of 26.2 % in the treatment group and virtually zero in the control group. Following individual trajectories over 18 months after the intervention, we do not observe any impact on job seekers' search effort and search scope, whether occupational or geographical. We find modest effects on search methods: job seekers using the website are more likely to rely on personal networks and to use resources provided by public employment services. However, we do not find any effect on self-reported well-being and on employment outcomes, both in the short run or in the middle run, indicating that more intensive interventions are required to bring unemployment down.

If you wish to assist to our rsaem, please send an email to helene.bertaux@ulb.be

other events

CONFÉRENCE FINALE IMMILAB
Jeudi 2 Juin 2022

L’intégration des immigrés, anciens et nouveaux, dans notre économie et notre société reste un défi majeur. Le projet IMMILAB, en cours depuis 2017, s’est penché sur les obstacles et les solutions à apporter.

Le projet, financé par BELSPO dans le cadre du programme BRAIN, a réuni trois équipes de recherche expérimentées qui ont accumulé une multitude de nouvelles connaissances au cours des 5 dernières années.

Le groupe de recherche IMMILAB souhaite vous inviter à la conférence finale du projet où nous présenterons nos résultats de recherche. Nous poserons également la question suivante: quelles sont les implications politiques? C’est la raison pour laquelle nous interagirons avec des experts et des décideurs politiques.

LIEU DE LA CONFÉRENCE: Résidence Palace - Rue de la Loi 155 – Bruxelles
PROGRAMME