[go: up one dir, main page]
More Web Proxy on the site http://driver.im/
IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/pubeco/v169y2019icp65-88.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Job search requirements, effort provision and labor market outcomes

Author

Listed:
  • Arni, Patrick
  • Schiprowski, Amelie
Abstract
How effective are effort targets? This paper provides novel evidence on the effects of job search requirements on effort provision and labor market outcomes. Based on large-scale register data, we estimate the returns to required job search effort, instrumenting individual requirements with caseworker stringency. Identification is ensured by the conditional random assignment of job seekers to caseworkers. We find that the duration of un- and non-employment both decrease by 3% if the requirement increases by one monthly application. When instrumenting actual applications with caseworker stringency, an additionally provided monthly application decreases the length of spells by 4%. In line with theory, we further find that the effect of required effort decreases in the individual's voluntary effort. Finally, the requirement level causes small negative effects on job stability, reducing the duration of re-employment spells by 0.3% per required application. We find a zero effect on re-employment wages.

Suggested Citation

  • Arni, Patrick & Schiprowski, Amelie, 2019. "Job search requirements, effort provision and labor market outcomes," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 169(C), pages 65-88.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:pubeco:v:169:y:2019:i:c:p:65-88
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2018.09.004
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0047272718301725
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jpubeco.2018.09.004?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Stefanie Behncke & Markus Frölich & Michael Lechner, 2010. "A Caseworker Like Me - Does The Similarity Between The Unemployed and Their Caseworkers Increase Job Placements?," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 120(549), pages 1430-1459, December.
    2. Gerard J. van den Berg & Bas van der Klaauw, 2006. "Counseling And Monitoring Of Unemployed Workers: Theory And Evidence From A Controlled Social Experiment," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 47(3), pages 895-936, August.
    3. Jaap H. Abbring & Gerard J. Berg & Jan C. Ours, 2005. "The Effect of Unemployment Insurance Sanctions on the Transition Rate from Unemployment to Employment," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 115(505), pages 602-630, July.
    4. Johannes Abeler & Armin Falk & Lorenz Goette & David Huffman, 2011. "Reference Points and Effort Provision," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(2), pages 470-492, April.
    5. Gerard J. van den Berg & Bas van der Klaauw & Jan C. van Ours, 2004. "Punitive Sanctions and the Transition Rate from Welfare to Work," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 22(1), pages 211-241, January.
    6. Gordon B. Dahl & Andreas Ravndal Kostøl & Magne Mogstad, 2014. "Family Welfare Cultures," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 129(4), pages 1711-1752.
    7. Scott R. Baker & Andrey Fradkin, 2017. "The Impact of Unemployment Insurance on Job Search: Evidence from Google Search Data," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 99(5), pages 756-768, December.
    8. repec:hal:pseose:halshs-00840901 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Canice Prendergast, 1999. "The Provision of Incentives in Firms," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 37(1), pages 7-63, March.
    10. Patrick Arni & Rafael Lalive & Jan C. Van Ours, 2013. "How Effective Are Unemployment Benefit Sanctions? Looking Beyond Unemployment Exit," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(7), pages 1153-1178, November.
    11. Marinescu, Ioana, 2017. "The general equilibrium impacts of unemployment insurance: Evidence from a large online job board," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 14-29.
    12. Bruno Crépon & Esther Duflo & Marc Gurgand & Roland Rathelot & Philippe Zamora, 2013. "Do Labor Market Policies have Displacement Effects? Evidence from a Clustered Randomized Experiment," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 128(2), pages 531-580.
    13. Heike Hennig-Schmidt & Bettina Rockenbach & Abdolkarim Sadrieh, 2010. "In Search Of Workers' Real Effort Reciprocity-A Field and a Laboratory Experiment," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 8(4), pages 817-837, June.
    14. Manning, Alan, 2009. "You can't always get what you want: The impact of the UK Jobseeker's Allowance," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(3), pages 239-250, June.
    15. Eric French & Jae Song, 2014. "The Effect of Disability Insurance Receipt on Labor Supply," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 6(2), pages 291-337, May.
    16. Lachowska, Marta & Meral, Merve & Woodbury, Stephen A., 2016. "Effects of the unemployment insurance work test on long-term employment outcomes," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 246-265.
    17. Rafael Lalive & Camille Landais & Josef Zweimüller, 2015. "Market Externalities of Large Unemployment Insurance Extension Programs," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(12), pages 3564-3596, December.
    18. Nicole Maestas & Kathleen J. Mullen & Alexander Strand, 2013. "Does Disability Insurance Receipt Discourage Work? Using Examiner Assignment to Estimate Causal Effects of SSDI Receipt," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 103(5), pages 1797-1829, August.
    19. Cockx, Bart & Dejemeppe, Muriel, 2012. "Monitoring job search effort: An evaluation based on a regression discontinuity design," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(5), pages 729-737.
    20. Katz, Lawrence F. & Meyer, Bruce D., 1990. "The impact of the potential duration of unemployment benefits on the duration of unemployment," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(1), pages 45-72, February.
    21. Keeley, Michael C & Robins, Philip K, 1985. "Government Programs, Job Search Requirements, and the Duration of Unemployment," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 3(3), pages 337-362, July.
    22. Jeffrey R. Kling, 2006. "Incarceration Length, Employment, and Earnings," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(3), pages 863-876, June.
    23. Ashenfelter, Orley & Ashmore, David & Deschenes, Olivier, 2005. "Do unemployment insurance recipients actively seek work? Evidence from randomized trials in four U.S. States," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 125(1-2), pages 53-75.
    24. Rafael Lalive & Jan C. van Ours & Josef Zweimüller, 2005. "The Effect Of Benefit Sanctions On The Duration Of Unemployment," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 3(6), pages 1386-1417, December.
    25. Bas Van der Klaauw & Jan C. Van Ours, 2013. "Carrot And Stick: How Re‐Employment Bonuses And Benefit Sanctions Affect Exit Rates From Welfare," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(2), pages 275-296, March.
    26. Johannes F. Schmieder & Till von Wachter & Stefan Bender, 2012. "The Effects of Extended Unemployment Insurance Over the Business Cycle: Evidence from Regression Discontinuity Estimates Over 20 Years," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 127(2), pages 701-752.
    27. Danielle Venn, 2012. "Eligibility Criteria for Unemployment Benefits: Quantitative Indicators for OECD and EU Countries," OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers 131, OECD Publishing.
    28. DUNCAN McVICAR, 2010. "Does Job Search Monitoring Intensity Affect Unemployment? Evidence from Northern Ireland," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 77(306), pages 296-313, April.
    29. Nicola Pavoni & G. L. Violante, 2007. "Optimal Welfare-to-Work Programs," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 74(1), pages 283-318.
    30. Pieter Gautier & Paul Muller & Bas van der Klaauw & Michael Rosholm & Michael Svarer, 2018. "Estimating Equilibrium Effects of Job Search Assistance," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 36(4), pages 1073-1125.
    31. Ernst Fehr & Lorenz Goette, 2007. "Do Workers Work More if Wages Are High? Evidence from a Randomized Field Experiment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 97(1), pages 298-317, March.
    32. Hopenhayn, Hugo A & Nicolini, Juan Pablo, 1997. "Optimal Unemployment Insurance," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 105(2), pages 412-438, April.
    33. McVicar, Duncan, 2008. "Job search monitoring intensity, unemployment exit and job entry: Quasi-experimental evidence from the UK," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(6), pages 1451-1468, December.
    34. Lalive, Rafael, 2008. "How do extended benefits affect unemployment duration A regression discontinuity approach," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 142(2), pages 785-806, February.
    35. Raj Chetty, 2008. "Erratum: Moral Hazard versus Liquidity and Optimal Unemployment Insurance," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 116(6), pages 1197-1197, December.
    36. Terry R. Johnson & Daniel H. Klepinger, 1994. "Experimental Evidence on Unemployment Insurance Work-Search Policies," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 29(3), pages 665-717.
    37. David Autor & Andreas Kostøl & Magne Mogstad & Bradley Setzler, 2019. "Disability Benefits, Consumption Insurance, and Household Labor Supply," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 109(7), pages 2613-2654, July.
    38. Petrongolo, Barbara, 2009. "The long-term effects of job search requirements: Evidence from the UK JSA reform," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(11-12), pages 1234-1253, December.
    39. Jeff Borland & Yi-Ping Tseng, 2007. "Does a Minimum Job Search Requirement Reduce Time on Unemployment Payments? Evidence from the Jobseeker Diary in Australia," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 60(3), pages 357-378, April.
    40. Johannes F. Schmieder† & Till von Wachter & Stefan Bender, 2011. "The Effects Of Extended Unemployment Insurance Over The Business Cycle: Evidence From Regression Discontinuity Estimates Over Twenty Years," Boston University - Department of Economics - Working Papers Series WP2011-063, Boston University - Department of Economics.
    41. Anna Aizer & Joseph J. Doyle, 2015. "Juvenile Incarceration, Human Capital, and Future Crime: Evidence from Randomly Assigned Judges," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 130(2), pages 759-803.
    42. Lammers, Marloes & Bloemen, Hans & Hochguertel, Stefan, 2013. "Job search requirements for older unemployed: Transitions to employment, early retirement and disability benefits," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 31-57.
    43. Johannes F. Schmieder & Till von Wachter & Stefan Bender, 2016. "The Effect of Unemployment Benefits and Nonemployment Durations on Wages," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 106(3), pages 739-777, March.
    44. Card, David & Levine, Phillip B., 2000. "Extended benefits and the duration of UI spells: evidence from the New Jersey extended benefit program," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(1-2), pages 107-138, October.
    45. Bruce D. Meyer, 1995. "Lessons from the U.S. Unemployment Insurance Experiments," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 33(1), pages 91-131, March.
    46. Daniel H. Klepinger & Terry R. Johnson & Jutta M. Joesch, 2002. "Effects of Unemployment Insurance Work-Search Requirements: The Maryland Experiment," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 56(1), pages 3-22, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Stefano Della & Jörg Heining & Johannes F Schmieder & Simon Trenkle, 2023. "Evidence on Job Search Models from a Survey of Unemployed Workers in Germany," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 137(2), pages 1181-1232.
    2. Cairo, Sofie & Mahlstedt, Robert, 2021. "Transparency of the Welfare System and Labor Market Outcomes of Unemployed Workers," IZA Discussion Papers 14940, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Lombardi, Stefano, 2019. "Threat effects of monitoring and unemployment insurance sanctions: evidence from two reforms," Working Paper Series 2019:22, IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy.
    4. Mihai Alexandru Codreanu & Tom Waters, 2023. "Do work search requirements work? Evidence from a UK reform targeting single parents," IFS Working Papers W23/02, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    5. De Brouwer, Octave & Leduc, Elisabeth & Tojerow, Ilan, 2023. "The consequences of job search monitoring for the long-term unemployed: Disability instead of employment?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 224(C).
    6. Stefano Della & Jörg Heining & Johannes F Schmieder & Simon Trenkle, 2022. "Evidence on Job Search Models from a Survey of Unemployed Workers in Germany [Reference-Dependent Preferences: Evidence from Marathon Runners]," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 137(2), pages 1181-1232.
    7. Lichter, Andreas & Schiprowski, Amelie, 2021. "Benefit duration, job search behavior and re-employment," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 193(C).
    8. Desmond Toohey, 2021. "The effects of unemployment insurance in late career: Evidence from Social Security offsets," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 88(2), pages 628-648, October.
    9. Banerjee, Abhijit & Sequeira, Sandra, 2023. "Learning by searching: Spatial mismatches and imperfect information in Southern labor markets," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 164(C).
    10. Cairo, Sofie & Mahlstedt, Robert, 2023. "The disparate effects of information provision: A field experiment on the work incentives of social welfare," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 226(C).
    11. Stefan Tübbicke, 2023. "How sensitive are matching estimates of active labor market policy effects to typically unobserved confounders?," Journal for Labour Market Research, Springer;Institute for Employment Research/ Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), vol. 57(1), pages 1-16, December.
    12. Morescalchi Andrea & Paruolo Paolo, 2020. "Too Much Stick for the Carrot? Job Search Requirements and Search Behaviour of Unemployment Benefit Claimants," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 20(1), pages 1-21, January.

    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. Arni, Patrick & Schiprowski, Amelie, 2015. "The Effects of Binding and Non-Binding Job Search Requirements," IZA Discussion Papers 8951, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Arni, Patrick & Schiprowski, Amelie, 2016. "Strengthening Enforcement in Unemployment Insurance: A Natural Experiment," IZA Discussion Papers 10353, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Sebastien Menard & Solenne Tanguy, 2017. "Revisiting Hopenhayn and Nicolini 's optimal unemployment insurance with job search monitoring and sanctions," TEPP Working Paper 2017-08, TEPP.
    4. Gerard J. van den Berg & Bas van der Klaauw, 2019. "Structural Empirical Evaluation Of Job Search Monitoring," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 60(2), pages 879-903, May.
    5. Bart Cockx & Muriel Dejemeppe & Andrey Launov & Bruno Van der Linden, 2018. "Imperfect Monitoring of Job Search: Structural Estimation and Policy Design," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 36(1), pages 75-120.
    6. Jonas Maibom & Michael Rosholm & Michael Svarer, 2017. "Experimental Evidence on the Effects of Early Meetings and Activation," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 119(3), pages 541-570, July.
    7. Morescalchi Andrea & Paruolo Paolo, 2020. "Too Much Stick for the Carrot? Job Search Requirements and Search Behaviour of Unemployment Benefit Claimants," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 20(1), pages 1-21, January.
    8. Lachowska, Marta & Meral, Merve & Woodbury, Stephen A., 2016. "Effects of the unemployment insurance work test on long-term employment outcomes," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 246-265.
    9. Nicholas Lawson, 2023. "Optimal unemployment policy," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 61(3), pages 675-692, July.
    10. Duncan McVicar, 2020. "The impact of monitoring and sanctioning on unemployment exit and job-finding rates," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 1-49, June.
    11. Sebastien Menard, 2019. "The impact of benefit sanctions on equilibrium wage dispersion and job vacancies," TEPP Working Paper 2019-08, TEPP.
    12. Ioana E. Marinescu, 2017. "Job search monitoring and assistance for the unemployed," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 380-380, August.
    13. Laporšek Suzana & Vodopivec Milan & Vodopivec Matija, 2022. "Activation programs for unemployment benefit recipients in Slovenia," Review of Economic Perspectives, Sciendo, vol. 22(2), pages 75-95, June.
    14. Lukas Fervers, 2016. "Fast track to the labour market or highway to hell? The effect of activation policies on quantity and quality of labour market integration," IAW Discussion Papers 125, Institut für Angewandte Wirtschaftsforschung (IAW).
    15. Tito Boeri & Jan van Ours, 2013. "The Economics of Imperfect Labor Markets: Second Edition," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, number 10142.
    16. Cairo, Sofie & Mahlstedt, Robert, 2021. "Transparency of the Welfare System and Labor Market Outcomes of Unemployed Workers," IZA Discussion Papers 14940, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    17. Cairo, Sofie & Mahlstedt, Robert, 2023. "The disparate effects of information provision: A field experiment on the work incentives of social welfare," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 226(C).
    18. Octave De Brouwer & Elisabeth Leduc & Ilan Tojerow, 2019. "The Unexpected Consequences of Job Search Monitoring: Disability Instead of Employment ?," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/340666, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    19. Peter Fredriksson & Bertil Holmlund, 2006. "Improving Incentives in Unemployment Insurance: A Review of Recent Research," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(3), pages 357-386, July.
    20. Amelie Schiprowski, 2020. "The Role of Caseworkers in Unemployment Insurance: Evidence from Unplanned Absences," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 38(4), pages 1189-1225.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Effort targets; Job search behavior; Unemployment insurance; Incentives;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J64 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search
    • J65 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment Insurance; Severance Pay; Plant Closings

    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:eee:pubeco:v:169:y:2019:i:c:p:65-88. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/505578 .

    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.