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Screening and Matching with Psychometric Assessments: Randomized Experiments 2011-2013 (Jordan)

author(s) Matthew Groh (World Bank) - David McKenzie (World Bank, BREAD, CEPR, IZA) - Nour Shammout (World Bank) - Tara Vishwanath (World Bank)
from World Bank Group (WB)
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themes
regions
  • Northern America
  • Americas
  • World
  • Western Asia
  • Asia
citation

Matthew Groh (World Bank) et al., 'Screening and Matching with Psychometric Assessments: Randomized Experiments 2011-2013 (Jordan)', 2014

Publications and datasets provided via GARDIAN

Abstract

Unemployment rates for college educated youth in Jordan are high, as is the duration of unemployment. Two randomized experiments in Jordan were used to test different theories that may explain this phenomenon. The first experiment tested the role of search and matching frictions by providing firms and job candidates with an intensive screening and matching service based on educational backgrounds and psychometric assessments. A second experiment built on the first by examining the willingness of educated, unemployed youth to apply for jobs of varying levels of prestige.

First Experiment (September 2011 - May 2013)

The job candidate sample consisted of recent graduates of either community college or university in Jordan, who participated in Jordan NOW 2.0 program between December 2011 and November 2012. The participants were randomly assigned to a treatment or a control groups.
The sample of enterprises consisted of businesses planning to hire workers in the next six months.

The experiment included:
- Firm survey of 2,279 enterprises (September - November 2011)
- Psychometric assessment of 1,569 individuals in Amman, Jordan (December 2011- January 2013)
- Midline survey of 984 recent college graduates (October 2012)
- Midline firm survey of 124 enterprises involved with the screening and matching pilot (October - November 2012)
- Endline surveys of 1,291 recent college graduates (May 2013)
- Administrative data on matching results

Second Experiment (May 2013 - October 2013)

The job candidate sample consisted of recent graduates from community colleges and universities, who participated in Yalla Watheefa (Let's Go Get a Job) program. The sample of businesses consisted of 33 firms with 51 job vacancies to fill 178 positions.

The second experiment included:
- Baseline survey of 1,668 recent college graduates (May 2013)
- Job Openings Labor Turnovers Survey (JOLTS) based panel survey of 350 enterprises (June - September 2013)
- Firm survey of 50 large enterprises (October 2013)

In order to provide further evidence on how firms in Jordan fill positions, the team conducted a 4-round panel survey based off of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics Job Openings Labor Turnovers Survey (JOLTS) on 350 firms in Amman that employ recent graduates.

Given that this second experiment did not result in any jobs, a follow-up survey to measure the treatment-control difference in employment outcomes was not conducted.

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