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The Potential of Recommender Systems for Directing Job Search: a Large Scale Experiment

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  • Luc Behaghel

    (PSE - Paris School of Economics - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École nationale des ponts et chaussées - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement, PJSE - Paris Jourdan Sciences Economiques - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École nationale des ponts et chaussées - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement)

  • Marc Gurgand

    (PSE - Paris School of Economics - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École nationale des ponts et chaussées - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement, PJSE - Paris Jourdan Sciences Economiques - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École nationale des ponts et chaussées - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement)

  • Sofia Dromundo

    (OECD)

  • Yagan Hazard

    (Collegio Carlo Alberto - UNITO - Università degli studi di Torino = University of Turin, ESOMAS - Department of Economics and Statistics - UNITO - Università degli studi di Torino = University of Turin)

  • Thomas Zuber

    (Banque de France - Banque de France - Banque de France)

Abstract

We analyze the employment effects of directing job seekers' applications toward establishments likely to recruit. We run a two-sided randomization design involving about 800,000 job seekers and 40,000 establishments, based on an empirical model that recommends each job seeker to firms so as to maximize total potential employment. Our intervention induces a 1% increase in job finding rates for short term contracts. This impact comes from a targeting effect combining (i) a modest increase in job seekers' applications to the very firms that were recommended to them, and (ii) a high success rate conditional on applying to these firms. Indeed, the success rate of job seekers' applications varies considerably across firms: the efficiency of applications sent to recommended firms is 2.7 times higher than the efficiency of applications to the average firm. This suggests that there can be substantial gains from better targeting job search, leveraging firm-level heterogeneity.

Suggested Citation

  • Luc Behaghel & Marc Gurgand & Sofia Dromundo & Yagan Hazard & Thomas Zuber, 2024. "The Potential of Recommender Systems for Directing Job Search: a Large Scale Experiment," PSE Working Papers halshs-04716995, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:psewpa:halshs-04716995
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://shs.hal.science/halshs-04716995v1
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Peter Kuhn & Mikal Skuterud, 2004. "Internet Job Search and Unemployment Durations," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(1), pages 218-232, March.
    2. Bas van der Klaauw & Heike Vethaak, 2022. "Empirical Evaluation of Broader Job Search Requirements for Unemployed Workers," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 22-083/V, Tinbergen Institute.
    3. Steven J. Davis & R. Jason Faberman & John C. Haltiwanger, 2013. "The Establishment-Level Behavior of Vacancies and Hiring," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 128(2), pages 581-622.
    4. David H. Autor, 2001. "Wiring the Labor Market," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 15(1), pages 25-40, Winter.
    5. Kircher, Philipp A.T., 2020. "Search design and online job search – new avenues for applied and experimental research," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    6. Philipp Kircher, 2022. "Job Search in the 21St Century," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 20(6), pages 2317-2352.
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    Cited by:

    1. Leduc, Elisabeth & Tojerow, Ilan, 2025. "Closing the Mismatch: Encouraging Jobseekers to Reskill for Shortage Occupations," IZA Discussion Papers 17731, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Thomas Le Barbanchon & Johannes F. Schmieder & Andrea Weber, 2024. "Job Search, Unemployment Insurance, and Active Labor Market Policies," NBER Working Papers 32720, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Recommender Systems; Matching; RCT; Active Labor Market Policies;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J64 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search

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