J-PAL Southeast Asia at 10: Labor Markets

The Effect of Referrals in an Online Labor Market: Workers without social connections may be disadvantaged in the labor market because employers favor applicants who have been referred. J-PAL affiliated researcher Amanda Pallais (Harvard)) and co-author (Emily Glassberg Sands (Coursera) collaborated with oDesk, an online labor market, to investigate why employers are more likely to hire referred workers and evaluate the impact of referrals on new hires’ job performance and turnover. One of the findings of the research is that referred workers outperformed and had lower churn than non-referred workers with the same observable characteristics. (IPA Philippines)*

*Not Implemented by J-PAL SEA (i.e., either implemented independently by researchers, partner organizations, or by Innovations for Poverty Action Philippines).