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Job Search and Hiring with Limited Information about Workseekers' Skills

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Listed:
  • Eliana Carranza
  • Robert Garlick
  • Kate Orkin
  • Neil Rankin

Abstract

We assess South African workseekers' skills and disseminate the assessment results to explore how limited information affects firm and workseeker behavior. Giving workseekers assessment results that they can credibly share with firms increases workseekers' employment and earnings and better aligns their skills, beliefs and search strategies. Giving workseekers assessment results that they cannot easily share with firms has similar effects on beliefs and search, but smaller effects on employment and earnings. Giving assessment results only to firms shifts interview decisions. These findings show that getting credible skill information to the right agents can improve outcomes in the labor market.

Suggested Citation

  • Eliana Carranza & Robert Garlick & Kate Orkin & Neil Rankin, 2022. "Job Search and Hiring with Limited Information about Workseekers' Skills," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 112(11), pages 3547-3583, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:aecrev:v:112:y:2022:i:11:p:3547-83
    DOI: 10.1257/aer.20200961
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    Cited by:

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    2. Eliana Carranza & David McKenzie, 2024. "Job Training and Job Search Assistance Policies in Developing Countries," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 38(1), pages 221-244, Winter.
    3. Diego A. Martin, 2024. "Women Seeking Jobs with Limited Information: Evidence from Iraq," CID Working Papers 157a, Center for International Development at Harvard University.
    4. Demir, Gökay, 2023. "Labor Market Frictions and Spillover Effects from Publicly Announced Sectoral Minimum Wages," IZA Discussion Papers 16204, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. M. Antonella Mancino & Leonardo Fabio Morales & Diego F. Salazar, 2023. "Signaling Worker Quality in a Developing Country: Lessons from a Certification Program," Borradores de Economia 1259, Banco de la Republica de Colombia.
    6. Danon, Alice & Das, Jishnu & de Barros, Andreas & Filmer, Deon, 2024. "Cognitive and socioemotional skills in low-income countries: Measurement and associations with schooling and earnings," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    7. Chakravorty, Bhaskar & Arulampalam, Wiji & Bhatiya, Apurav Yash & Imbert, Clément & Rathelot, Roland, 2024. "Can information about jobs improve the effectiveness of vocational training? Experimental evidence from India," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
    8. Otavio Conceiçaõ & Rodrigo Oliveira & André Portela Souza, 2023. "The impacts of studying abroad: Evidence from a government-sponsored scholarship program in Brazil," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2023-49, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    9. Demir, Gökay & Sandner, Malte & Hertweck, Friederike & Yükselen, Ipek, 2023. "Students' Coworker Networks and Labor Market Entry," VfS Annual Conference 2023 (Regensburg): Growth and the "sociale Frage" 277580, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply
    • J23 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Demand
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • J41 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Labor Contracts
    • J64 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration

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