Screening and Signalling Non-Cognitive Skills: Experimental Evidence from Uganda
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
Abstract
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鈥� 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鈥� 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.
This research is part of the Gender, Growth and Labour Markets in Low Income Countries programme
Citation
Bassi, V. and Nansamba, A. (2021). 鈥淪creening and Signalling Non-Cognitive Skills: Experimental Evidence from Uganda鈥�. The Economic Journal, 132 (642): 471-511. https://doi.org/10.1093/ej/ueab071.