Improving Job Matching through Job Fairs in Egypt

Youth unemployment is a critical challenge in across the world. In Egypt, one sixth of the youth population is unemployed and one third is neither in education, employment or training. Despite high unemployment rates, firms report significant difficulties filling vacancies: in 2012, the private sector in Egypt was unable to fill nearly 600,000 jobs.1 This suggests that the Egyptian economy is characterized by significant labor market distortions and search frictions, hindering economic growth. Job fairs may decrease the matching frictions between firms and job seekers by bringing job seekers in direct contact with firms that are hiring for formal jobs. This project will evaluate the impacts of a) providing information about job fairs and the labor market to job seekers and b) a cash subsidy for travel to the fair on job search behavior, labor market outcomes, and firm performance. For more on J-PAL's work in the Middle East and North Africa, including this project, see this blog post from December 2017.