Ranking occupations by proximity to workers' profiles, Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics, 2024, with Mirjam Bächli, Doriana Tinello, Damaris Aschwanden, Sascha Zuber, Matthias Kliegel, Michele Pellizzari and Rafael Lalive.
Abstract: Information friction makes it difficult for job seekers to find new employment opportunities. We propose a method for providing individual-specific occupation recommendations by ranking occupations based on their proximity to the worker's profile. We identify a set of twelve skills, abilities and work styles that capture the worker-oriented requirements of all occupations and discuss how to measure these items using online questions and tasks. We use the Euclidean distance between the measured items pertaining to a worker and the requirements of an occupation to measure the proximity between job seekers and occupations. We show that the proximity between job seekers' profiles and their preunemployment occupation predicts their intention to change occupations, thus suggesting that our method captures a meaningful conceptualization of mismatch. We also show that our method generates recommendations that differ from the previous occupations of mismatched job seekers, thereby potentially expanding their search scope.
Redesigning Labour Market Policies for the Future of Work : Lessons from the ‘Intermittents du Spectacle’ scheme in France, University of Leicester School of Economics, 2023, with Guillaume Wilemme and Piotr Denderski.
Abstract: Existing labour market policies were designed when permanent full-time jobs and one-occupation careers were commonplace. However, these fail to address new forms of work arrangements: task-based contracts, on-call work, zero-hours contracts, dependent self-employed, or the gig economy. The uncertain nature of these forms of employment means that workers bear greater risk and are increasingly vulnerable to unexpected life events. The increase in active gig-workers from 2.3 million in 2016 to 4.7 million in 2019 suggests a growing need for reform. The research team aims to inform an optimal policy response by investigating and learning from a unique safety net developed for art workers in France, the ‘intermittent du spectacle' (IDS).
The Lock-in Effects of Part-time Unemployment Benefits, Journal of Human Resources, 2023, with Pierre Cahuc and Pierre Villedieu.
Abstract: We ran a large randomized controlled experiment among about 150,000 recipients of unemployment benefits insurance in France in order to evaluate the impact of part-time unemployment benefits. We took advantage of the lack of knowledge of job seekers regarding this program and sent emails presenting the program. The information provision had a significant positive impact on the propensity to work while on claim, but reduced the unemployment exit rate, showing important lock-in effects into unemployment associated with part-time unemployment benefits. The importance of these lock-in effects implies that decreasing the marginal tax rate on earnings from work while on claim in the neighborhood of its current level does not increase labor supply and increases the expenditure net of taxes of the unemployment insurance agency.
Media coverage : [Voxeu]
Taxation of temporary jobs: good intentions with bad outcomes ?, Economic Journal, 2019, with Pierre Cahuc, Olivier Charlot, Franck Malherbet and Emeline Limon.
Abstract: This article analyses the consequences of the taxation of temporary jobs of short duration recently introduced in several European countries to induce firms to create more open-ended contracts and to increase the duration of jobs. The estimation of a job search and matching model on French data shows that the taxation of temporary jobs does not reach its objectives: it reduces the mean duration of jobs and decreases job creation, employment and welfare of unemployed workers.
Media coverage : [l'Opinion] [Capital] [Voxeu]
La majorité des embauches en contrats courts se font chez un ancien employeur, Eclairage Etudes et Analyses 14, 2016.
Media coverage : [Le Monde] [Les Echos] [L'Express] [Le Figaro]
Using Cognitive Abilities and Psychosocial Characteristics Rather Than Previous Occupations to Find New Jobs: A Novel Assessment Tool for Jobseekers’ Profile, R&R, with Mirjam Bächli, Doriana Tinello, Damaris Aschwanden, Sascha Zuber, Matthias Kliegel, Rafael Lalive, Michele Pellizzari.
Abstract : Searching for a new job is difficult and time-consuming. In previous work, we developed an innovative profile-based job recommendation system that prioritizes jobseekers’ cognitive abilities and psychosocial characteristics over their previous occupations to help them identify potentially more suitable job offers and thereby reenter employment more efficiently. While that work introduced the overall system, it did not describe the underlying assessment tool in detail. The goal of this manuscript is to fill that gap by presenting the online self-assessment instrument underlying the job recommendation system. We document its administration across three samples (total N > 3500) and provide preliminary descriptive and reliability evidence on its functioning as a scalable, self-administered tool for assessing a broad set of transferable cognitive abilities and psychosocial characteristics that may be useful in a wide range of fundamental and applied research contexts. The tool assesses jobseekers’ profiles along 12 descriptors: 8 cognitive abilities (fluency of ideas, memorization, inductive reasoning, category flexibility, perceptual speed, reading comprehension, time management, monitoring) and 4 psychosocial characteristics (adaptability, perceived stress, leadership, self-control). These descriptors are measured using established cognitive tasks and psychosocial questionnaires. The assessment can be completed online in ~60 minutes. Across the three samples, most measures produced sufficiently variable scores without pronounced floor or ceiling effects, although score levels and reliability differed for some descriptors. While the integration of this assessment into a job recommendation system has been described elsewhere, the current article focuses on documenting the instrument and making it available for replication and further research.
Cognitive Training for Jobseekers: Evidence from a Randomized Experiment, submitted, with Mirjam Bächli, Doriana Tinello, Sascha Zuber, Mauro Cherubini, Damaris Aschwanden, Matthias Kliegel, Rafael Lalive, Michele Pellizzari.
Abstract: Cognition is likely to be important for job search, but its role is not yet well understood. We study an online field experiment with jobseekers registered at the Swiss public employment services. Participants were randomly assigned to an
online cognitive training program designed to strengthen core cognitive abilities and transversal cognitive abilities relevant for job search. Combining administrative and survey data on employment and earnings, we find that access to cognitive training
substantially increases employment rates and earnings while reducing reliance on transfer income. In a simple search model, these findings could arise when cognition improves search effectiveness leading to lower search effort but higher chances of
employment.