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Curse of Anonymity or Tyranny of Distance? The Impacts of Job-Search Support in Urban Ethiopia

Author

Listed:
  • Girum Abebe
  • Stefano Caria
  • Marcel Fafchamps
  • Paolo Falco
  • Simon Franklin
  • Simon Quinn

Abstract

We conduct a randomised evaluation of two job-search support programmes for urban youth in Ethiopia. One group of treated respondents receives a subsidy to cover the transport costs of job search. Another group participates in a job application workshop where their skills are certified and they are given orientation on how to make effective job applications. The two interventions are designed to lower spatial and informational barriers to employment. We find that both treatments significantly improve the quality of jobs that young jobseekers obtain. Impacts are concentrated among women and the least educated. Using rich high-frequency data from a phone survey, we are able to explore the mechanisms underlying the results; we show that while the transport subsidy increases both the intensity and the efficacy of job search, the job application workshop mainly operates through an increase in search efficacy. Both interventions mitigate the adverse effects of spatial constraints on employment outcomes, and the job application workshop alleviates informational asymmetries by helping workers to signal their ability.

Suggested Citation

  • Girum Abebe & Stefano Caria & Marcel Fafchamps & Paolo Falco & Simon Franklin & Simon Quinn, 2016. "Curse of Anonymity or Tyranny of Distance? The Impacts of Job-Search Support in Urban Ethiopia," CSAE Working Paper Series 2016-10, Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford.
    • Handle: RePEc:csa:wpaper:2016-10
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    Cited by:

    1. Jean-Claude BERTHELEMY, 2018. "Exits from the Poverty Trap and Growth Accelerations in a Dual Economy Model," Working Papers P234, FERDI.
    2. Youtang Zhang & Eshetu Yesuf Ayele, 2022. "Factors Affecting Small and Micro Enterprise Performance with the Mediating Effect of Government Support: Evidence from the Amhara Region Ethiopia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-20, June.
    3. Stefano Caria & Simon Franklin & Marc Witte, 2023. "Searching with Friends," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 41(4), pages 887-922.
    4. Jean‐Claude Berthelemy, 2021. "Exits from the poverty trap and growth accelerations in a dual economy model," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(3), pages 1197-1215, August.
    5. Simon Jäger & Christopher Roth & Nina Roussille & Benjamin Schoefer, 2024. "Worker Beliefs About Outside Options," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 139(3), pages 1505-1556.
    6. Iimi, Atsushi, 2025. "Job Accessibility, Commute Time, and Efficiency of Urban Transport : Evidence from Dar es Salaam," Policy Research Working Paper Series 11186, The World Bank.
    7. Bull, Owen & Muñoz, Juan Carlos & Silva, Hugo E., 2021. "The impact of fare-free public transport on travel behavior: Evidence from a randomized controlled trial," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    8. Yutong Chen & Kerem Coşar & Devaki Ghose & Shirish Mahendru & Sheetal Sekhri, 2024. "Gender-Specific Transportation Costs and Female Time Use: Evidence from India’s Pink Slip Program," NBER Working Papers 32508, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Berhe Mekonnen Beyene and & Tsegay Gebrekidan Tekleselassie, 2018. "The State, Determinants, and Consequences of Skills Mismatch in the Ethiopian Labour Market," Working Papers 021, Policy Studies Institute.
    10. Björn Nilsson, 2019. "The School-to-Work Transition in Developing Countries," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(5), pages 745-764, May.
    11. Abebe, Girum & Caria, Stefano & Fafchamps, Marcel & Falco, Paolo & Franklin, Simon & Quinn, Simon & Shilpi, Forhad, 2017. "Matching firms and workers in a field experiment in Ethiopia," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 86572, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    12. Sarah Baird & David McKenzie & Berk Özler, 2018. "The effects of cash transfers on adult labor market outcomes," IZA Journal of Migration and Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 8(1), pages 1-20, December.
    13. Livia Alfonsi & Oriana Bandiera & Vittorio Bassi & Robin Burgess & Imran Rasul & Munshi Sulaiman & Anna Vitali, 2020. "Tackling Youth Unemployment: Evidence From a Labor Market Experiment in Uganda," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 88(6), pages 2369-2414, November.
    14. Iimi, Atsushi, 2025. "Direct and Indirect Impacts of Transport Mobility on Access to Jobs : Evidence from South Africa," Policy Research Working Paper Series 11255, The World Bank.
    15. Sung‐Eun Cho & Young‐Min Lee, 2020. "The Effects of Youth Job Seeker Allowance in South Korea," Asian-Pacific Economic Literature, The Crawford School, The Australian National University, vol. 34(2), pages 64-77, November.
    16. Patrizio Piraino, 2020. "Drivers of mobility," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2020-6, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    17. Moreno-Monroy, Ana I. & Posada, Héctor M., 2018. "The effect of commuting costs and transport subsidies on informality rates," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 99-112.
    18. Suresh de Mel & David McKenzie & Christopher Woodruff, 2019. "Labor Drops: Experimental Evidence on the Return to Additional Labor in Microenterprises," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 11(1), pages 202-235, January.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • O12 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • O18 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Urban, Rural, Regional, and Transportation Analysis; Housing; Infrastructure
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply
    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers
    • J64 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search
    • M53 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Personnel Economics - - - Training

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