CEEG Seminar Series: Labour market effects of digital matching platforms – experimental evidence from sub-Saharan Africa

On Wednesday, 23 August 2023, Sam Jones, UNU-WIDER Research Fellow and IGM Resident Advisor at the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF), will present his recent study on the labour market effects of online matchmaking platforms for jobseekers (WIDER Working Paper 69/2022).

The seminar is part of the CEEG Seminar Series, organized under the Inclusive growth in Mozambique (IGM) programme. The seminars offer a forum to share and discuss ongoing research on topics related to the work of the IGM programme and to foster a culture of research at the faculty and at UEM in general.

The seminars take place at the Faculty of Economics of the University of Eduardo Mondlane (UEM). It is a public event open to everyone. The presentation will be given in Portuguese.

About the study

Can digital labour market platforms reduce search frictions in either formal or informal labour markets? This study addresses this question using a randomized experiment embedded in a tracer study of the work transitions of graduates from technical and vocational colleges in Mozambique. The authors implement an encouragement design, inviting graduates by SMS to join one of two local digital platforms: Biscate, a site to find freelancers for informal manual tasks; and Emprego, a conventional formal jobs website. In contrast to positive estimates of the contribution of both platforms to job outcomes from naïve (per-treatment) estimates, both intent-to-treat and complier average treatment effects are consistently zero in the full sample, while the impact on life satisfaction is negative. However, use of the informal jobs platform leads to better work outcomes for women, especially those with manual qualifications, for whom earnings rise by over 50 per cent.