Tag
urban_malawi
12 findings
Labour & employmentBroad-Based Wage Distribution CDF ShiftWage gains persisted consistently across all 8 post-intervention months ($1 to $6 per day increase across individual months), displaying a rightward shift of the entire daily wage CDF rather than earnings concentration among a few top earners.RCTLabour & employmentCausal Wage Returns to Short-Term Work ExperienceAcquiring 5 days of short-term work experience increased average daily wages by $3.83 (representing an approximate 80% wage increase) over the 8-month follow-up period and increased subsequent employment probability by 6.8 to 8.8 percentage points.RCTLabour & employmentContract Permanence vs. Daily Wage Trade-OffAcquiring short-term work experience increased average daily wages by $3.83 (an 80% wage increase) but resulted in a negative coefficient (-0.386, p > 0.10) on the pay frequency permanence index, indicating that wage gains were concentrated in less permanent, daily-paid positions.RCTLabour & employmentEducated Youth Underemployment TrapDespite completing secondary school (13 average education years), urban young men worked an average of only 23.4 hours per week conditional on being employed, while earning approximately $210 per 3-month period prior to intervention.Observational StudyLabour & employmentInformal Network Substitution for Formal Reference LettersParticipants acquiring work experience and a reference letter were 7.9 percentage points less likely to submit a reference letter when applying for jobs (IV coefficient = -0.079, standard error = 0.110) and reduced the total number of times a reference letter was submitted by 0.381 times.RCTLabour & employmentIntensive Margin Daily Labor Supply AdjustmentUrban educated men worked only 23.4 hours per week conditional on employment; acquiring 5 days of work experience increased labor supply on the intensive margin by 1 additional day worked per week on average (p < 0.10).RCTLabour & employmentInternational Employer Experience PremiumThe wage returns from acquiring short-term work experience were significantly magnified for candidates with prior international employer experience, yielding an interaction coefficient of 1.731 on inverse hyperbolic sine daily wages (p < 0.05).RCTLabour & employmentCross-Sectoral Wage Spillovers Outside Specialty RolesWhile employment increases occurred across both RA and non-RA roles, the overall post-intervention daily wage gains were primarily driven by employment in non-RA positions rather than continued research assistant work.RCTLabour & employmentPrior Research Experience Return MagnificationAcquiring short-term work experience yielded a statistically significant positive wage interaction for candidates with prior research experience (interaction coefficient = 1.079, standard error = 0.618, p = 0.06), demonstrating magnified wage gains for research-experienced individuals.RCTLabour & employmentReferral Quality Incentive Gap in Job NetworksUnder standard unincentivized conditions, male recommenders do not systematically refer the highest-quality candidates from their social networks; offering explicit financial performance incentives significantly increases the ability and test scores of referred job seekers.RCTLabour & employmentReservation Wage Rigidity Post-Employment ExposureReceiving short-term work experience resulted in a $124.40 increase in monthly reservation wages that was statistically insignificant (p > 0.10), and produced no statistically significant increase in the proportion of time spent actively searching for work (coefficient = 0.089, p > 0.10).RCTLabour & employmentSocial Job Network ExpansionAcquiring short-term work experience increased the probability of receiving any job referral by 22.2 percentage points (p < 0.05) and increased the overall social network index by 0.306 standard deviations (p < 0.10) over the 8-month follow-up period.RCT