Can job search assistance improve the labour market integration of refugees? Evidence from a field experiment * Michele Battisti † Yvonne Giesing ‡ Nadzeya Laurentsyeva § June 26, 2019 Abstract We conducted a field experiment to evaluate the impact of job search assistance on the employment of recently arrived refugees in Germany. The treatment group received job-matching support: an NGO identified suitable vacancies and sent the refugees’ CVs to employers. Six months after the start of the treatment, we find no evidence for positive treatment effects on employment. However, after twelve months, we detect positive treatment effects: marginally significant for the full sample and larger in magnitude and significant for lower educated refugees and those who have not yet received a refugee status. These individuals face higher uncertainty about their residence status, they do not search effectively, lack access to alternative support programmes and may be disregarded by employers due to perceived higher hiring costs. Our results suggest that personalised job search assistance can improve labour market integration of these refugee groups by alleviating labour market frictions. JEL classification: F22, J61, J68 Keywords: Refugees, labour market integration, job search assistance, field experiment * We thank Florian Englmaier, Andreas Steinmayr, Monika Schnitzer, Panu Poutvaara, Joachim Winter, two anonymous referees, participants of the ifo CEMIR seminar, MEA expert workshop, Mannheim seminar, Heriot Watt seminar, 2018 Exodus Workshop on Migration and the Labour Markets, the 2018 Bristol Workshop on Economic Policy Interventions and Behaviour, the 2017 EEA, the 2018 ESPE, the 2018 EALE conference, the VfS 2018, and two LMU Munich seminars for helpful comments and suggestions. We especially thank the founder of the NGO, its staff and volunteers for making this research possible. We thank Elham Danesh, Kamo Issa, Surayyo Norkobilova, and Ahmad Wali for surveying and translations. Reem Hassan has provided outstanding research assistance, translations and surveying since the start of the project. Financial support from the DFG Research Training Group 1928: Microeconomic Determinants of Labour Productivity and the Mercator Foundation (MEDAM project) is gratefully acknowledged. † University of Glasgow, CESifo and CReAM, Contact: [email protected], University of Glasgow, Adam Smith Business School, Gilbert Scott Building, Glasgow, G12 8QQ, UK ‡ ifo Institute, LMU Munich and CESifo, Contact: [email protected], ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, Poschingerstr. 5, Munich 81679, Germany § LMU Munich and CEPS, Contact: [email protected], University of Munich, Kaulbachstr. 45, 80539 Munich, Germany
Can job search assistance improve the labour market integration of refugees? Evidence from a field experiment
Jul 11, 2023
Welcome message from author
This document is posted to help you gain knowledge. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think about it! Share it to your friends and learn new things together.
Related Documents
