The Impact of an Online Job Fair: Experimental Evidence from Bangladesh
THEIMPACTOFANONLINEJOBFAIR EXPERIMENTALEVIDENCEFROMBANGLADESH NorihikoMatsudaandRyotaroHayashi NO.689 July2023 ADBECONOMICSWORKINGPAPERSERIES ASIANDEVELOPMENTBANK ADBEconomicsWorkingPaperSeries TheImpactofanOnlineJobFair:ExperimentalEvidencefromBangladesh NorihikoMatsudaandRyotaroHayashiNo.689|July2023 NorihikoMatsuda(nmatsuda@fiu.edu) isanassistantprofessorofeconomics,FloridaInternationalUniversity.RyotaroHayashi(rhayashi@adb.org)isasocialsectoreconomist,HumanandSocialDevelopmentSectorsGroup,AsianDevelopmentBank. TheADBEconomicsWorkingPaperSeriespresentsresearchinprogresstoelicitcommentsandencouragedebateondevelopmentissuesinAsiaandthePacific.TheviewsexpressedarethoseoftheauthorsanddonotnecessarilyreflecttheviewsandpoliciesofADBor itsBoardofGovernorsorthegovernmentstheyrepresent. ASIANDEVELOPMENTBANK CreativeCommonsAttribution3.0IGOlicense(CCBY3.0IGO) ©2023AsianDevelopmentBank 6ADBAvenue,MandaluyongCity,1550MetroManila,PhilippinesTel+63286324444;Fax+63286362444 www.adb.org Somerightsreserved.Publishedin2023. ISSN2313-6537(print),2313-6545(electronic)PublicationStockNo.WPS230227-2 DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.22617/WPS230227-2 TheviewsexpressedinthispublicationarethoseoftheauthorsanddonotnecessarilyreflecttheviewsandpoliciesoftheAsianDevelopmentBank(ADB)oritsBoardofGovernorsorthegovernmentstheyrepresent. ADBdoesnotguaranteetheaccuracyofthedataincludedinthispublicationandacceptsnoresponsibilityforanyconsequenceoftheiruse.ThementionofspecificcompaniesorproductsofmanufacturersdoesnotimplythattheyareendorsedorrecommendedbyADBinpreferencetoothersofasimilarnaturethatarenotmentioned. Bymakinganydesignationoforreferencetoaparticularterritoryorgeographicarea,orbyusingtheterm“country”inthispublication,ADBdoesnotintendtomakeanyjudgmentsastothelegalorotherstatusofanyterritoryorarea. ThispublicationisavailableundertheCreativeCommonsAttribution3.0IGOlicense(CCBY3.0IGO)https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/.Byusingthecontentofthispublication,youagreetobeboundbythetermsofthislicense.Forattribution,translations,adaptations,andpermissions,pleasereadtheprovisionsandtermsofuseathttps://www.adb.org/terms-use#openaccess. ThisCClicensedoesnotapplytonon-ADBcopyrightmaterialsinthispublication.Ifthematerialisattributedtoanothersource,pleasecontactthecopyrightownerorpublisherofthatsourceforpermissiontoreproduceit.ADBcannotbeheldliableforanyclaimsthatariseasaresultofyouruseofthematerial. Pleasecontactpubsmarketing@adb.orgifyouhavequestionsorcommentswithrespecttocontent,orifyouwishtoobtaincopyrightpermissionforyourintendedusethatdoesnotfallwithintheseterms,orforpermissiontousetheADBlogo. CorrigendatoADBpublicationsmaybefoundathttp://www.adb.org/publications/corrigenda.Note: Inthispublication,“$”referstoUnitedStatesdollars. CONTENTS TABLESANDFIGURESiv ACKNOWLEDGMENTSvi ABSTRACTvii ABBREVIATIONSviii 1.INTRODUCTION1 2.RESEARCHDESIGN3 StudyContext:LaborMarketsinBangladesh3 Intervention:OnlineJobFair3 RecruitmentandRandomization4 Data5 Timeline5 3.DESCRIPTIVESTATISTICS5 Jobseekers5 ParticipationintheFair5 4.THEEFFECTSOFTHEFAIR7 MatchesthroughtheFair7 EstimationResults7 MechanismandDiscussions10 5.COST-EFFECTIVENESS13 6.CONCLUSIONS13 APPENDIXES A.AdditionalFiguresandTables15 B.RandomizationandAttritionBalancesbetweenTreatmentandControlJobseekers23 C.RobustnessChecks:EstimationResultswithoutControls25 D.CostBreakdownandComparisonwithanIn-personJobFair27 REFERENCES29 TABLESANDFIGURES 1 SummaryStatisticsofJobseekers 6 2 EffectsoftheOnlineJobFair 8 3 DifferencesinWages,JobTenure,Skill-MatchQuality,andJobSatisfactionbetween 9 A1 ListofJobTitles 16 A2 SummaryStatisticsofEmployersandJobs 17 A3 WhatTypesofJobseekersAreMoreLikelytoParticipate 18 A4 AverageTreatmentEffectsoftheFairontheTreated 19 A5 AdditionalResultsontheEffectsoftheJobFair 20 A6 ReasonsWhyJobOffersWereDeclined 20 A7 HeterogeneityoftheEffectsbyBaselineEmploymentStatus 21 A8 Heterogeneity:ComparisonsofEmployedTreatmentandControlJobseekersbyBaseline 22 B1 RandomizationCheck:BalancebetweenTreatmentandControlJobseekers 23 B2 BalanceonSurveyAttritionbetweenTreatmentandControlJobseekers 24 C1 RobustnesswithoutControls:EffectsoftheOnlineJobFair 25 C2 RobustnesswithoutControls:DifferencesinWages,JobTenure,Skill-MatchQuality, 26 D1 CostBreakdownandComparisonbetweentheOnlineJobFairandaCounterfactual 28 TABLES EmployedTreatmentandControlJobseekers EmploymentStatus andJobSatisfactionbetweenTreatmentandControlJobseekers In-PersonFair FIGURES TablesandFigures v 1JobFairParticipationandMatches 7 2Jobseekers’ExperiencesintheFair 11 A1JobSearchChallengesforJobseekers 15 A2OnlineJobFair 15 A3StudyTimeline 16 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS WearedeeplyindebtedtoBdjobs.com,especiallyKaziLatifurRahman,ProkashRoyChowdhury,andMohammadAliFirose,fortheircontinuousstrongsupport.WethankMOMODaFoundation,especiallyMdEnamulHaqueandH.M.MasudurRahmanfortheirfielddatacollection.WeappreciateexceptionalresearchassistancefromSandyNoboaLindaoandMdRezwanulHoque.WearegratefulforcommentsfromTakashiYamano,PaulVandenbe
