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Gig-jobs: Stepping stones or dead ends?

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  • Adermon, Adrian
  • Hensvik, Lena

Abstract

How useful is work experience from the gig economy for labor market entrants searching for traditional wage jobs? We conducted a correspondence study in Sweden, comparing callback rates for recent high school graduates with (i) gig-experience, (ii) traditional experience, and (iii) unemployment history. We also study heterogeneous responses with respect to perceived foreign background. Our findings suggest that gig-experience is more valuable than unemployment, but less useful than traditional experience for majority applicants. Strikingly however, no form of labor market experience increases the callback rate for minority workers.

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  • Adermon, Adrian & Hensvik, Lena, 2022. "Gig-jobs: Stepping stones or dead ends?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:labeco:v:76:y:2022:i:c:s0927537122000628
    DOI: 10.1016/j.labeco.2022.102171
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    Cited by:

    1. Ek, Simon & Hammarstedt, Mats & Skedinger, Per, 2021. "Low-Skilled Jobs, Language Proficiency and Refugee Integration: An Experimental Study," Working Paper Series 1398, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
    2. Georg Graetz, 2023. "Imperfect Signals," CESifo Working Paper Series 10403, CESifo.
    3. Smruti Patre, 2023. "Gig Intentions in Management Students: Integrating JD-R in an Extended TPB Model," Management and Labour Studies, XLRI Jamshedpur, School of Business Management & Human Resources, vol. 48(1), pages 76-97, February.
    4. Zuzanna Kowalik & Piotr Lewandowski & Paweł Kaczmarczyk, 2022. "Job quality gaps between migrant and native gig workers: evidence from Poland," IBS Working Papers 09/2022, Instytut Badan Strukturalnych.
    5. Graetz, Georg, 2023. "Imperfect Signals," IZA Discussion Papers 16104, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Carreño Bustos, José Gabo, 2023. "Flexible Contracts as Business Cycle Stabilizers," Discussion Paper 2023-007, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research.
    7. Graetz, Georg, 2023. "Imperfect signals," Working Paper Series 2023:10, IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy.
    8. Karadja, Mounir & Sundberg, Anton, 2023. "The labor market impact of a taxi driver’s license," Working Paper Series 2023:6, IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Gig-jobs; Correspondence study; Discrimination;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J23 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Demand
    • J71 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Discrimination - - - Hiring and Firing

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