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

Author

Listed:
  • Behaghel, Luc

    (Paris School of Economics)

  • Dromundo, Sofia

    (OECD)

  • Gurgand, Marc

    (Paris School of Economics)

  • Hazard, Yagan

    (Paris School of Economics)

  • Zuber, Thomas

    (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

  • Behaghel, Luc & Dromundo, Sofia & Gurgand, Marc & Hazard, Yagan & Zuber, Thomas, 2024. "The Potential of Recommender Systems for Directing Job Search: A Large-Scale Experiment," IZA Discussion Papers 16781, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp16781
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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. van der Klaauw, Bas & Vethaak, Heike, 2022. "Empirical Evaluation of Broader Job Search Requirements for Unemployed Workers," IZA Discussion Papers 15698, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    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. Philipp Kircher, 2022. "Job Search in the 21St Century," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 20(6), pages 2317-2352.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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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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