In Simple Words
Think of a three-legged race where progress depends on who is pulling the team forward. Measuring each participant's steps individually shows whether the coach, the runner, or the cheering spectator is driving speed across the finish line.
Observed permanent vacancies with the agency
- No proactive agency outreach
- 6.862 direct applications per vacancy
- Proactive agency outreach
- 2.670 fewer direct applications
Observed weighted comparison of posted permanent vacancies over two weeks. Selection may remain; this does not separately identify the effect of private listings.
See source →Research question
Standard job matching models evaluate overall hiring without distinguishing between search effort expended separately by caseworkers, employers, and jobseekers.
Participants
N = 1,705 permanent contract vacancies posted with the Public Employment Service in France.
Study Design
Non-experimental Inverse Probability Weighted (IPW) regression evaluating applicant origin across caseworker, firm, and jobseeker channels within 2 weeks of posting.
Results
Control vacancies received 3.588 caseworker matches, 1.102 firm-initiated candidate searches, and 6.862 organic jobseeker applications; treatment reduced firm search effort by 0.841 matches (p < 0.01) and organic jobseeker applications by 2.670 (p < 0.01).
Takeaway
Track applicant generation separately across caseworker-initiated, employer-initiated, and jobseeker-initiated channels to isolate search effort substitution.