Principal Investigators:
Erica Field , Kate Vyborny , Robert Garlick , Nivedhitha Subramanian
We use our in-house job matching platform Job Talash which is a high-frequency job search facilitation and matching service that connects jobseekers and employers by listing jobs from employers, sharing job information with jobseekers to record their interest, and applying to jobs on behalf of the jobseekers. This Lahore service has 13,000+ job seekers from diverse backgrounds such as those with minimal education, seeking low-skilled jobs, and coming from low-income households. The platform also has 1300+ employers recruited through a representative sample. In addition to the core matching service of the platform, we run a number of follow up surveys that document off platform search of employers and jobseekers. The program runs a number of interventions delivered through and evaluated using data from the job search facilitation and matching service.
We seek to answer the following questions using Job Talash:
- How does offering safe pick and drop transport impact application rates and employment decisions, particularly for women?
- How does encouragement to apply for jobs impact job seekers’ application rates and interview outcomes?
- How does auditing of job seekers’ experiences impact their long term investment in skills? Does providing audited information about job seekers impact employers’ hiring decisions?
Publications
Research Papers:
- Why Don’t Jobseekers Search More? Barriers and Returns to Search on a Job Matching Platform. Working Paper, Field, E., Garlick, R., Subramanian, N., Vyborny, K. 2023.
- Barriers to entry: Decomposing the gender gap in job search in urban Pakistan. Working Paper, Gentile, E., Kohli, N., Subramanian, N., Tirmazee, Z., Vyborny, K. 2023.
- Women’s Mobility and Labour Supply: Experimental Evidence from Pakistan. Asian Development Bank. Working Paper, Vyborny, K., Field, E. 2022.
- Infrastructure investments and public transport use: Evidence from Lahore, Pakistan. International Growth Centre. Working Paper, Majid, H., Malik, A. and Vyborny, K., 2018.
- Overcoming Barriers to Women’s Mobility Improving Women’s Access to Public Transport in Pakistan Fizzah Sajjad, Ghulam Abbas Anjum, Erica Field, Kate Vyborny. March 2017.
Report:
Briefs
- Simplifying communication dramatically increased job application rates on a platform in Pakistan, blog post, featured on VoxDev and IGC, 2023
- Smart Lockdowns and Learning Outcomes: Insights from 10th-Grade Examination Results in Pakistan, 2023
- How female friendly are workplaces in Pakistan, 2022
- Analyzing gendered impacts of COVID-19 on Job Search Behavior, 2022
- Analyzing Gender Differences in Pay in the Pakistani Labor Market. February 2021.
- A Tentative Story of Resilience: The Impact of COVID-19 on the Pakistani Labour Market | PEDL. February 2021
- Barriers faced by women in labour market participation: Evidence from Pakistan – IGC. March 2021.
- Understanding gender barriers in the Pakistani labour market: A deep dive in the job search process – IGC. May 2021.
- Overcoming Barriers to Women’s Mobility in Punjab, Punjab Government website
- Infrastructure investments, public transport use and sustainability: Evidence from Lahore, Pakistan, November 2019
Media coverages
- FEATURE-Pakistan bus network gives women a ticket to work and study | Reuters. May 2022.
- The Impact of Phone-based Job Search Assistance on Women’s Economic Recovery From the Covid-19 Pandemic in Pakistan | The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab. March 2021.
- Adverse effects of poor sanitation facilities, The News, September 2019
- The ability to get from point A to B is a basic right, The News, April 2018
- Job Asaan: a springboard for career, The Dawn, August 2018
- Ride-Hailing Apps Free Pakistani Women From Abuse, if They Can Pay, The New York Times, November 2017
Videos
- Women’s Mobility Project, Centre for Economic Research in Pakistan , June 2019
- Addressing challenges of women’s mobility in Punjab
Web Portal: jobtalash.com.pk
Tags
Gender, Labour Markets, Informational Interventions, Phone-based Survey, CATI, CAPI