Thesis advisor: Lucas Coffman / Gender Differences in Sorting on the Job Market: The Role of Application Costs Research shows that, holding qualifications equal, women are less willing than men to apply for certain high-paying jobs. Through a stylized labor market experiment, I investigate whether the "gender application gap" for high-paying jobs is affected by the presence or magnitude of application costs. I randomly vary the cost of applying for such a job, with subjects either facing no marginal cost, paying a fee, or writing a cover letter. Men are significantly more likely than equally qualified women to apply for a job only when the marginal cost of applying is zero. Introducing either type of application cost, but especially a fee, shrinks the gender application gap. This result comes from gender differences in self-selection behavior: women prefer not to apply when unskilled regardless of costs, whereas unskilled men only drop out of the applicant pool when a tangible cost is introduced. Women appear to face a higher cost than men from applying for a job they might perform poorly at, especially if the job is in a stereotypically "male-typed" domain. Subjective Self-Promotion and Gender Bias in Recruitment Previous work finds that women are more "modest" on average than equally skilled men when subjectively describing their abilities. If recruiters treat self-promotion by men and women as equally informative, they may become inefficiently biased towards male applicants. I randomly vary whether recruiters in a hiring experiment select from applicants who submitted only a resume, or submitted a resume and a cover letter (a type of subjective self-promotion). A cover letter requirement significantly reduces women's share of hires, even as it increases women's share of total applications. This hiring penalty against women cannot be explained by differences in qualifications or skills between men and women who choose to write cover letters. In fact, while employers see productivity gains from requiring a cover letter, such gains would be larger if cover letters did not bias recruiters towards male applicants. Textual analysis reveals that women’s cover letters contain half as much “boasting” language as men’s letters, which could help explain why cover letters impose a penalty on women's chances of getting hired. Anticipated Returns to "Clearing the Bar'': Gender Differences in Job Search Beliefs Conventional wisdom states that women are less willing than men to apply for a job for which they feel only partly qualified. Is this due to gender differences in anticipated returns to meeting or exceeding the desired level of qualification for a job? In a series of studies, I investigate whether men and women rate more and less qualified candidates’ chances of being hired differently. In the lab, I elicit beliefs about callback and offer likelihood by having subjects "bet" on the outcomes of other applicants' job searches. In a stylized online labor market experiment, I observe subjects' job application decisions and elicit beliefs regarding how qualified they will appear to a recruiter. Across studies, I find that women anticipate the same or greater returns than men to moving from "not at all" to "somewhat" qualified for a position, but the same or lower returns to moving from "somewhat" to fully or "highly" qualified. Controlling for gender differences in willingness to rate one's own or others' resumes as qualified does not change the pattern of results. Consistent with these findings, women in my experiment do not differ from men in how likely they are to apply if they fulfill some, but not all, of the listed qualifications in a job posting. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2024. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Economics.

This dissertation is composed of three essays using labor search models to explore the role of referral-networks in the labor market. The first, "<b>The Stabilizing Effect of Referral-Networks on the Labor Market</b>," examines how the use of informal connections (i.e. referral-networks) affects the severity and duration of recessions. To do so, I develop a search-and-matching model in which there are two hiring methods, formal channels and informal channels, and workers endogenously adjust their network of informal contacts in response to shocks and government policy. I show referral-networks have a stabilizing effect on the labor market, reducing the severity of adverse economic shocks and accelerating post-recession recovery. Counterfactuals demonstrate the government must exercise caution when enacting policies intended to expedite economic recovery. Policies that generically improve worker-firm matching prolong recovery by 8 months, as they facilitate relatively more matches between workers and low-productivity firms during recessions. In contrast, policies aimed at reducing the costs of network-formation or increasing referral-network prevalence facilitate more matches between workers and high-productivity firms, expediting recovery by 3-6 months.<br> <br>The second chapter, "<b>The Impact of Referral-Networks on Sectoral Reallocation</b>," investigates a new explanation for the long-run decline in sectoral switching--the increased prevalence of referral-networks. Using data from the Current Population Survey (CPS), I first document empirically significant increase in the use of referral-networks in the job-search process by the unemployed. Moreover, this increase is concurrent with the decline in sectoral switching. The CPS is then used to estimate the effect of using referral-networks on the likelihood of an individual switching sectors at a various levels of industry classifications. For all aggregations, using referral-networks significantly reduces the probability a worker switches sectors. After controlling for demographics, these estimates imply an increase in the prevalence of referral-network use could explain as much as 5% to 40% of the decline in sectoral switching. <br><br>To better illustrate the policy implications of this finding, a discrete time sectoral-switching model is constructed using a search and matching framework with labor market referrals. The estimated model estimates a referral-switching elasticity of about -.12, which is within the empirically estimated range of -.05 to -.22 for the 2-sector industry aggregation, demonstrating that the increased of the prevalence of referrals overtime can explain about 20% of the decline in US sectoral switching. Welfare results indicate that referrals are a "benign'' cause of the decline, i.e. welfare declines upon effectively banning the use of referral-networks. These results have important implications for policymakers. They suggest that the cause of the decline in sectoral switching (and more generally job-changing) is the result of improved matching efficiency over time rather than market inefficiency. <br><br>The third chapter, "<b>Does Job-Finding Using Informal Connections Reduce Mismatch?</b>," presents evidence that nonpecuniary benefits of a job, such as hours, commute time, and work environment, are a salient factor in a worker's decision to either accept or reject the offer. Using data form the Survey of Consumer Expectations (SCE), I document three empirical facts on the use of referral-networks and mismatch. First, not all referrals reduce perceived mismatch as reported by workers. For high-skill workers, referrals from former coworkers tend to reduce perceived nonpecuniary-mismatch. For low-skill workers, referrals from friends and family tend to increase perceived non-pecuniary mismatch. <br><br>Given these empirical facts, I construct a search-and-matching model of the labor market similar to Buhrmann [2018a] where workers and firms are given types on a unit interval and suffer increasingly greater productivity losses depending on distance between the firm's type and the worker's type. I augment this baseline model with mismatch along two dimensions -- skill and nonpecuniary preferences-- and calibrate it to the US economy. Results show nonpecuniary preferences can generate more dispersion in skill-mismatch for very low-skill workers and very high-skill workers. Moreover, while referral-networks generally improve aggregate mismatch, they have a heterogeneous affect on nonpecuniary mismatch by type. For low-skill (high-skill) workers, referral-networks increase (decrease) nonpecuniary mismatch.<br><br>Overall, the results from this dissertation serve as a guide for policymakers. While government intervention may be deemed necessary in recessions, it is vital to understand the role specific matching channels serve in the economy in order for a policy to achieve the desired result. Understanding that referrals generate more high-productivity matches suggests policymakers should investigate policies aimed at improving network formation and functionality. Similarly, distinguishing between formal and informal methods of job finding are key to understanding recent labor market phenomenon. The second chapter shows informal channels have become more ubiquitous in order to facilitate matching. While this change creates patterns in the data that seem concerning, a closer investigation reveals this seems to be a result of the market simply adapting to be more efficient. Finally, understanding why people use formal and informal channels is vital to understanding worker-firm mismatch on a micro-level. While high-skill workers use informal channels to find better matches, low-skill seem to use them to find any match faster. In essence, the findings of this dissertation emphasize the need for policymakers to understand the nuanced behavior of job seekers and the differing goals of various job-finding methods. One cannot simply treat all job-finding as the same, especially if a particular method is widely used and leads to significantly different outcomes, and expect to implement efficient policy. Thus, it is important to understand how certain job-finding methods differ on a micro level and apply these finding to macro policy. <br>

This paper uses the Dutch panel data from LISS, Longitudinal Internet Studies for the Social Science in trying to establish if a relationship between individuals’ risk propensity and job search activity is present. When looking at employed and unemployed job seekers jointly, a positive significant relationship is present. Looking at these groups separately shows that the relationship is driven by employed job seekers. No relationship for unemployed job seekers can be identified when being looked at separate. However, when taking into account possible biases from changes in risk propensity over time as well as the classification of actively searching individuals, no relationship is present at all. We hence are cautious towards the significant estimates received that potentially could suffer from biases. Further studies should be made with a bigger sample of individuals and a continuously updated measure of risk propensity to minimizing potential bias.

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Prolonged experience of high and long-term unemployment has led many governments to a renewed interest in active labour market policies. In particular, targeted wage subsidies have been seen as a means of both directly getting longterm unemployed people into work, and improving their future prospects of finding and keeping jobs. We examine three issues. Firstly, we look at the macroeconomic theory of targeted wage subsidies, and, to a lesser extent, job search assistance, within efficiency wage, union bargaining and search theoretic frameworks. Subsidies directly increase labour demand, but we also find that their effectiveness is enhanced by general equilibrium effects from targeting: wage pressure is reduced; and the average quality of the unemployed pool rises as long-term unemployed workers are removed from it, increasing the incentives for other firms to open vacancies. Secondly we address the optimal degree of policy targeting, using an extension of the Mortensen-Pissarides job creation and destruction model. We argue that there are real gains to targeting the long-term unemployed, but also diminishing returns. Hence, as the level of policy expenditure rises, the extent of targeting should fall. Simulating the model for the UK, we find that policy could have a significant impact on equilibrium unemployment, with more modest welfare gains. Finally, we look at longer-term employability effects by evaluating the Australian Special Youth Employment Training Program (SYETP). Controlling for selection bias using a bivariate probit, we find that participation increased the chances of having a job by 26% between 8 and 13 months after subsidy expiry, and 20% a year later. Much of this gain arose from retention of initially subsidised jobs, but even excluding this, participants were significantly more likely to be employed in subsequent years than if they had not gone on the programme.

The objective of this thesis is to propose new functionality of job search website which would better reflect the customers' needs than current job search websites. It focuses on the job applicant segment to improve and simplify the whole process of searching for a relevant job offer and also to take in account the real users' requirements on the system. At first an introduction to the field of Human Resource Information Systems will take place together with its relationship to the job search website systems. Next step is to analyze and compare five Czech job search websites to find out and describe their functionality in detail. Results of the comparison will be presented in the form of SWOT analysis and will serve as a main source of questions in the users' survey in the following step. The purpose of the survey is to verify the results of the analysis and also to confirm potential users' interest in the newly proposed functions for the job search website. The results of the analysis, together with the survey results, make up for a basic source of information to be used in the process of designing new functionality to improve the current job search website systems and thus completing the main objective.

Abstract In recent years, the government has implemented several policies to lower the unemployment rate. In this insecure environment, the concept of employability has emerged as a key contributor to career success and job search success. Past researches show lack of attention on the relationship between employability and job search success, furthermore, most researches about employability were taking college students as examples. Thus, this research tries to proceed an empirical study of general job seekers and find out the effect of employability on job search success. Besides, it also comprehends the exploration of the mediating effect of the job search self-efficacy. After statistical analyses, the results are summarized as the following. 1. Adaptability has no effect on job search self-efficacy. 2. Adaptability has no effect on job search success. 3. Career identity has positive effect on job search self-efficacy. 4. Career identity has positive effect on job search success. 5. Human capital and social capital have positive effect on job search self-efficacy. 6. Human capital and social capital have positive effect on job search success. 7. Job search self-efficacy has positive effect on job search success.

Using data drawn from in-depth interviews collected in three Chinese cities and the countrywide China General Social Survey, this dissertation examined how people found jobs during the historic period of China’s employment system change. This dissertation is written in the format of three publishable papers. The first paper revisited China’s employment system change, by focusing on individual reactions towards the changing employment policies. Perceiving the persistent political authority, individuals pursued higher education, accumulated political advantages, and mobilized network resources, to get state-assigned jobs. Individual job-seeking strategies, in turn, boosted the state’s hiring criteria, as well as facilitated the growth of the market principle. Consequently, state power and market strength have been co-developed in this process. Following my analysis of institutional constraints, in the second paper, I addressed the question of how individual job seekers and job positions are matched together. I examined how contact use matches individual qualifications to the employer’s hiring expectations, from an innovative perspective of the certifiability of job requirements. I demonstrated that informal methods facilitate job-person matching success when used in combination with formal methods, rather than being used alone. My third dissertation paper provides strong empirical evidence of the advantages of the joint use of formal and informal methods. I found that individuals who used formal and informal job search methods jointly tend to obtain more job information and thus apply for more positions. They are also more likely to exit job search successfully within a three-month time period. Using the Endogenous Switching Regression (ESR) model, I found that the joint channel itself is more likely to lead one to late-stage career success, as indicated by one’s recent income. Above all, my dissertation systematically investigated the use of contacts in the labor market of post-socialist China, regarding its institutional constraints, working mechanisms, and advantages.

Using data drawn from in-depth interviews collected in three Chinese cities and the countrywide China General Social Survey, this dissertation examined how people found jobs during the historic period of China’s employment system change. This dissertation is written in the format of three publishable papers. The first paper revisited China’s employment system change, by focusing on individual reactions towards the changing employment policies. Perceiving the persistent political authority, individuals pursued higher education, accumulated political advantages, and mobilized network resources, to get state-assigned jobs. Individual job-seeking strategies, in turn, boosted the state’s hiring criteria, as well as facilitated the growth of the market principle. Consequently, state power and market strength have been co-developed in this process. Following my analysis of institutional constraints, in the second paper, I addressed the question of how individual job seekers and job positions are matched together. I examined how contact use matches individual qualifications to the employer’s hiring expectations, from an innovative perspective of the certifiability of job requirements. I demonstrated that informal methods facilitate job-person matching success when used in combination with formal methods, rather than being used alone. My third dissertation paper provides strong empirical evidence of the advantages of the joint use of formal and informal methods. I found that individuals who used formal and informal job search methods jointly tend to obtain more job information and thus apply for more positions. They are also more likely to exit job search successfully within a three-month time period. Using the Endogenous Switching Regression (ESR) model, I found that the joint channel itself is more likely to lead one to late-stage career success, as indicated by one’s recent income. Above all, my dissertation systematically investigated the use of contacts in the labor market of post-socialist China, regarding its institutional constraints, working mechanisms, and advantages.

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