Our research agenda addresses questions central to the economics of gender: To what extent are gender gaps in labour markets driven by labour demand versus supply? Given weak capacity in developing countries to enforce legislation, can market-based interventions help redirect the search of workers and firms towards more equitable matches? We leverage our research partnership…
Market-Based Solutions to Gender Inequality in Job Search in Pakistan
Project
From Jobs to Careers
Women’s participation in the labour market increases economic growth at both the national and firm level, yet women worldwide still face significant labour market challenges. Current research on women’s labour market experience in developing countries mainly focuses on short-term jobs. We propose shifting the focus from jobs to “careers,” i.e., occupations characterized by a long-term…
Characterizing Urban Labour Market Effects of COVID and Speeding Recovery Through a Job Search Platform
The COVID-19 crisis has triggered unemployment worldwide. In developing countries, the effects are expected to be large (Mubarak and Howell 2020; Saleh and Cash 2020; Dingel and Neiman 2020); however, better data is needed to understand (1) who is most affected; (2) which job losses are expected to be temporary versus permanent, and (3) how…
Overcoming Constraints to Female Labour Force Entry
We propose a randomised controlled trial to test the impact of two low-cost interventions to overcome psychological and information constraints to female labor force participation (FLFP). Our research questions are, does (i) motivating female students and (ii) providing information about the job market, promote female labor force entry, as measured by their likelihood of applying…
A Labour Markets Research Agenda through a Job Search Platform
Labour markets in low-income countries experience many frictions that impair efficient firm-worker matching (Behrman, 1999). Information frictions can hinder firms’ attempts to observe workers’ skills and productivity (Abel et al., 2016; Bassi & Nansamba, 2017; Carranza et al., 2017), spatial frictions can separate firms and workers (Franklin, 2017), regulatory frictions can deter firms from hiring…
Labour Markets in South Asia: Evidence and Policy Lessons
Project
Punjab Economic Opportunity Program
The Punjab Economic Opportunity Programme: Evaluating Markets for Skill Acquisition and Employment project has examined the complete scope of all relevant decisions being made in the vocational skills market in target districts in Pakistan. This includes determining what courses to offer, examining the drivers of low take-up, relieving access constraints to markets, and returns to…
Women’s Access to Public Transport and Labour Force Participation
This project focuses on the labour market entry situation for women in Pakistan. Social norms against women coming into close contact with unrelated men and the discomfort social stigma and threat of possible harassment when they do so, restricts women’s use of public transport in urban areas of many countries, including in South Asia. This…