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Published Article

Screening and Signalling Non-Cognitive Skills: Experimental Evidence from Uganda

We study how employers and job seekers respond to credible information on skills that are difficult to observe, and how this affects matching in the labour market. We experimentally vary whether certificates on workers’ non-cognitive skills are disclosed to both sides of the market during job interviews between young workers and small firms in Uganda. The certificates cause workers to increase their labour market expectations, while high-ability managers revise their assessments of the workers’ skills upwards. The reaction in terms of beliefs leads to an increase in positive assortative matching and to higher earnings for workers, conditional on employment.

Title Screening and Signalling Non-Cognitive Skills: Experimental Evidence from Uganda
Author
  • Vittorio Bassi
  • Aisha Nansamba
Published in The Economic Journal, Volume 132, Issue 642, 471-511
Publication Date 01/10/2021
Thematic AreaSkill Training
Project Asymmetric Information on the Skills of Workers and Matching in the Labour Market
See Published Article

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