CAREER: Using Field Experiments to Identify Barriers to Labor Market Success and Human Capital Accumulation

Harvard University, Cambridge MA

Investigators

Abstract

Abstract: Using Field Experiments to Identify Barriers to Labor Market Success and Human Capital Accumulation This project aims to identify barriers preventing workers from succeeding in the labor market: in particular, barriers that prevent workers from demonstrating their skills to potential employers and barriers that prevent workers from gaining important skills. The first project examines a Catch 22 that new labor market entrants face: it's difficult for them to get a job without prior experience, but it's difficult to get experience without a prior job. This project tests whether providing more information to employers about workers' aptitudes can improve their labor market outcomes by making employers more willing to hire them. The second project examines a Catch 22 that displaced workers face. Because employers use unemployment as an adverse signal of worker ability, the longer workers are out of work, the harder it becomes for them to find a job. This project tests whether helping workers fill in their resume gaps with short-term, part-time employment or volunteering can improve their labor market outcomes. While the first two projects test for the importance of information barriers in labor markets, the third tests the importance of a simple resource barrier. Despite the fact that advanced high school classes have been linked to better subsequent outcomes, many low-income high school students do not have access to advanced classes at their high schools. Online classes have been proposed as one way to fill this resource gap. This project examines whether providing students with access to advanced online classes can improve their subsequent educational outcomes. It also analyzes how the effects of these online classes compare to the effects of in-person versions of the same classes. The intellectual merit of this agenda lies in applying rigorous experimental evidence to answer these questions. All three projects utilize randomized field experiments. These projects should improve our understanding of labor markets and educational settings. For example, there is a long theoretical literature on employer learning about worker abilities, but less empirical evidence on how different signals affect employers' beliefs and worker outcomes. Similarly, there is a lot of speculation about the ability of online classes to improve students' access to high-quality education, but less empirical evidence on this topic. The broader impacts of this agenda lie in identifying policies and practices that can improve the labor market outcomes of disadvantaged groups. A priority of this agenda is to disseminate the results of the research to practitioners and policy-makers and to train students to conduct high-quality research.