IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/iab/iabdpa/201923.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Do informational nudges alter firms' hiring behavior of older workers?

Author

Listed:
  • Homrighausen, Pia

    (Institute for Employment Research (IAB), Nuremberg, Germany)

  • Lang, Julia

    (Institute for Employment Research (IAB), Nuremberg, Germany)

Abstract

"This paper analyses a local marketing campaign in Germany that provided information about unproven agerelated stereotypes and the value of older workers. The campaign was designed to increase the hiring rate of older workers. Using comprehensive register data, we find that the information provided by the campaign (via banners, interviews, job fairs and information brochures) did change firms' employment behavior. The cheap and mild intervention increased the employment rate of older workers on average by 3 percentage points. This increase, however, is attributable to an increase in job stability rather than to an increase in the hiring of older workers." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Suggested Citation

  • Homrighausen, Pia & Lang, Julia, 2019. "Do informational nudges alter firms' hiring behavior of older workers?," IAB-Discussion Paper 201923, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
  • Handle: RePEc:iab:iabdpa:201923
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doku.iab.de/discussionpapers/2019/dp2319.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. repec:iab:iabfda:200903(en is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Caliendo, Marco & Mahlstedt, Robert & Mitnik, Oscar A., 2017. "Unobservable, but unimportant? The relevance of usually unobserved variables for the evaluation of labor market policies," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 14-25.
    3. Jeffrey B. Liebman & Erzo F. P. Luttmer, 2015. "Would People Behave Differently If They Better Understood Social Security? Evidence from a Field Experiment," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 7(1), pages 275-299, February.
    4. Görlitz, Katja & Tamm, Marcus, 2017. "Information, financial aid and training participation: Evidence from a randomized field experiment," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 138-148.
    5. repec:iza:izawol:journl:y:2015:p:121 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Matteo Picchio, 2021. "Is training effective for older workers?," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 121-121, July.
    7. Esther Duflo & Emmanuel Saez, 2003. "The Role of Information and Social Interactions in Retirement Plan Decisions: Evidence from a Randomized Experiment," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 118(3), pages 815-842.
    8. Altmann, Steffen & Falk, Armin & Jäger, Simon & Zimmermann, Florian, 2018. "Learning about job search: A field experiment with job seekers in Germany," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 33-49.
    9. Beth Osborne Daponte & Seth Sanders & Lowell Taylor, 1999. "Why Do Low-Income Households not Use Food Stamps? Evidence from an Experiment," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 34(3), pages 612-628.
    10. Marieke Huysentruyt & Eva Lefevere, 2010. "Child Benefit Support and Method of Payment: Evidence from a Randomized Experiment in Belgium," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 2(2), pages 163-184, May.
    11. Matthias Dorner & Jörg Heining & Peter Jacobebbinghaus & Stefan Seth, 2010. "The Sample of Integrated Labour Market Biographies," Schmollers Jahrbuch : Journal of Applied Social Science Studies / Zeitschrift für Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaften, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin, vol. 130(4), pages 599-608.
    12. Anna Aizer, 2007. "Public Health Insurance, Program Take-Up, and Child Health," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 89(3), pages 400-415, August.
    13. Hirschenauer, Franziska & Springer, Angelina, 2014. "Vergleichstypen 2014 : Aktualisierung der SGB-III-Typisierung," IAB-Forschungsbericht 201402, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    14. Saurabh Bhargava & Dayanand Manoli, 2015. "Psychological Frictions and the Incomplete Take-Up of Social Benefits: Evidence from an IRS Field Experiment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(11), pages 3489-3529, November.
    15. David Neumark & Ian Burn & Patrick Button, 2019. "Is It Harder for Older Workers to Find Jobs? New and Improved Evidence from a Field Experiment," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 127(2), pages 922-970.
    16. Dorner, Matthias & Heining, Jörg & Jacobebbinghaus, Peter & Seth, Stefan, 2010. "Sample of Integrated Labour Market Biographies (SIAB) 1975-2008," FDZ Methodenreport 201009_en, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    17. Anna Aizer, 2003. "Low Take-Up in Medicaid: Does Outreach Matter and for Whom?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(2), pages 238-241, May.
    18. John Heywood & Uwe Jirjahn & Georgi Tsertsvardze, 2010. "Hiring older workers and employing older workers: German evidence," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 23(2), pages 595-615, March.
    19. Marieke Huysentruyt & Eva Lefevere, 2010. "Child Benefit Support and Method of Payment: Evidence from a Randomized Experiment in Belgium," NBER Chapters, in: Income Taxation, Trans-Atlantic Public Economics Seminar (TAPES), pages 163-184, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    20. repec:cte:werepe:we1233 is not listed on IDEAS
    21. Bernhard Boockmann & Thomas Zwick & Andreas Ammermüller & Michael Maier, 2012. "Do Hiring Subsidies Reduce Unemployment Among Older Workers? Evidence From Natural Experiments," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 10(4), pages 735-764, August.
    22. Coate, Stephen & Loury, Glenn C, 1993. "Will Affirmative-Action Policies Eliminate Negative Stereotypes?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 83(5), pages 1220-1240, December.
    23. Dorner, Matthias & Heining, Jörg & Jacobebbinghaus, Peter & Seth, Stefan, 2010. "Sample of Integrated Labour Market Biographies (SIAB) 1975-2008," FDZ Datenreport. Documentation on Labour Market Data 201001_en, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Homrighausen, Pia & Lang, Julia, 2019. "Do informational nudges alter firms’ hiring behavior of older workers?," VfS Annual Conference 2019 (Leipzig): 30 Years after the Fall of the Berlin Wall - Democracy and Market Economy 203481, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    2. Stephan, Gesine & van den Berg, Gerard & Homrighausen, Pia, 2016. "Randomizing information on a targeted wage support program for older workers: A field experiment," VfS Annual Conference 2016 (Augsburg): Demographic Change 145487, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    3. Gerard J. van den Berg & Christine Dauth & Pia Homrighausen & Gesine Stephan, 2023. "Informing employees in small and medium‐sized firms about training: Results of a randomized field experiment," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 61(1), pages 162-178, January.
    4. Christine Dauth & Ott Toomet, 2016. "On Government-Subsidized Training Programs for Older Workers," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 30(4), pages 371-392, December.
    5. Dauth, Christine, 2017. "Regional discontinuities and the effectiveness of further training subsidies for low-skilled employees," IAB-Discussion Paper 201707, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    6. Raf Van Gastel & Tim Goedemé & Julie Janssens & Eva Lefevere & Rik Lemkens, 2017. "A Reminder to Pay Less for Healthcare: take-up of Increased Reimbursement in a large-scale randomized field experiment," Working Papers 1712, Herman Deleeck Centre for Social Policy, University of Antwerp.
    7. Olivier Body, 2014. "When Is Speech Silver and Silence Golden ?A Field Experiment on an Information Campaign," Working Papers ECARES ECARES 2014-32, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    8. Ha Trong Nguyen & Huong Thu Le & Luke B Connelly, 2021. "Who's declining the “free lunch”? New evidence from the uptake of public child dental benefits," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(2), pages 270-288, February.
    9. Sylvain Chareyron & David Gray & Yannick L’Horty, 2018. "Raising Take-Up of Social Assistance Benefits through a Simple Mailing: Evidence from a French Field Experiment," Revue d'économie politique, Dalloz, vol. 128(5), pages 777-805.
    10. Marieke Huysentruyt & Eva Lefevere, 2010. "Child Benefit Support and Method of Payment: Evidence from a Randomized Experiment in Belgium," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 2(2), pages 163-184, May.
    11. Marieke Huysentruyt & Eva Lefevere, 2008. "Child Benefit Support and Method of Payment: Evidence from a Randomized Experiment in Belgium," Working Papers 0802, Herman Deleeck Centre for Social Policy, University of Antwerp.
    12. Altmann, Steffen & Cairo, Sofie & Mahlstedt, Robert & Sebald, Alexander, 2022. "Do Job Seekers Understand the UI Benefit System (And Does It Matter)?," IZA Discussion Papers 15747, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    13. Christine Dauth & Julia Lang, 2019. "Can the unemployed be trained to care for the elderly? The effects of subsidized training in elderly care," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(4), pages 543-555, April.
    14. Dauth, Christine & Lang, Julia, 2017. "Should the unemployed care for the elderly? : The effect of subsidized occupational and further training in elderly care," IAB-Discussion Paper 201713, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    15. Lang, Julia & Dauth, Christine, 2017. "Should the unemployed care for the elderly? The effect of subsidized occupational and further training in geriatric care," VfS Annual Conference 2017 (Vienna): Alternative Structures for Money and Banking 168130, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    16. Bai, Chong-En & Chi, Wei & Liu, Tracy Xiao & Tang, Chao & Xu, Jian, 2021. "Boosting pension enrollment and household consumption by example: A field experiment on information provision," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    17. Joachim Wolff & Gesine Stephan, 2013. "Subsidized work before and after the German Hartz reforms: design of major schemes, evaluation results and lessons learnt," IZA Journal of Labor Policy, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 2(1), pages 1-24, December.
    18. Tobias Brändle & Lukas Fervers, 2021. "Give it Another Try: What are the Effects of a Job Creation Scheme Especially Designed for Hard-to-Place Workers?," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 42(3), pages 382-417, December.
    19. Jeehoon Han, 2020. "Snap Expansions And Participation In Government Safety Net Programs," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 58(4), pages 1929-1948, October.
    20. Sylvain Chareyron, 2016. "Le non-recours aux aides sociales sous conditions de ressources," Erudite Ph.D Dissertations, Erudite, number ph16-01 edited by Yannick L'Horty & François Legendre.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Brandenburg ; Bundesrepublik Deutschland ; Potsdam ; Auswirkungen ; Beschäftigerverhalten ; Beschäftigungseffekte ; Informationsangebot ; Integrierte Erwerbsbiografien ; ältere Arbeitnehmer ; Personaleinstellung ; Arbeitsagenturen ; Stereotyp ; Arbeitslose ; 2009-2012;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness
    • J21 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure
    • J23 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Demand
    • J64 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search
    • J78 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Discrimination - - - Public Policy (including comparable worth)

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:iab:iabdpa:201923. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: IAB, Geschäftsbereich Wissenschaftliche Fachinformation und Bibliothek (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/iabbbde.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.