Facilitating International Remote Work for New Graduates in Malawi

Does facilitation of international remote work have potential as an economic development intervention? For job-seekers in low- or middle-income countries, the international remote job market offers the prospect of a much larger pool of potential jobs at substantially higher wages, compared to domestic (non-remote) job markets. We seek funding for a pilot randomized evaluation testing the impact of providing “career services” (writing cover letters and CVs, orientation to job websites, Zoom interview training) for international remote work to students at LUANAR, a Malawian university. Students interested in the program will be individually randomized to a treatment and comparison group. We will collect information on friend networks to measure spillovers from treated to comparison group  participants. Outcomes of interest include labor supply, wages, and job satisfaction six to twelve months post-intervention. These pilot findings will support future grant proposals for a full-scale randomized evaluation with multiple universities in Sub-Saharan Africa.