Does Job Search Assistance Really Raise Employment?

A Field Experiment on Labor Market Speeddates for Unemployed Workers

“…This would explain the negative long-run effects on income, which are also observed in other studies (e.g. Cottier et al (2015)).…”

“…of positive long-run employment effects concurs with the findings of Cottier et al (2015). Comparing income gains and income losses, we find that the sum of earnings and benefits are never significantly different from zero.…”

“…They find that public programs have a lower take-up rate but are more cost effective due to higher job finding rates among participants. In a recent study, Cottier et al (2015) evaluate the performance of a large private job search assistance provider in Switzerland and find a short-lived positive impact on job finding which turns negative two years later.…”

How Does Job Coaching Help Disability Insurance Recipients Work While on Claim?

“…Indeed, a potential pitfall of the "work-first" approach of SE is the risk of individuals accepting low quality jobs to quickly re-enter the labor market. Previous research in the context of unemployment insurance reveals that job search assistance does not boost employment in the long-run if the program places participants in lower-quality jobs (Cottier, Flückiger, Kempeneers, & Lalive, 2018). Our survey data allows us to check whether this is the case for our study population of DI beneficiaries.…”

Do the Long-Term Unemployed Benefit from Automated Occupational Advice During Online Job Search?

“…In contrast to studies focusing on more traditional in-person counselling, delivering advice online is substantially less costly. For a recent point of comparison, Cottier, Fluckiger, Kempeneers, and Lalive (2018) evaluate an in-person counselling program targeting long-term unemployed in Geneva, using a comparable sample size. The advice consists of writing job application packages, offering help in finding job vacancies, contacting prospective employers to enquire for vacant positions and referral of candidates.…”