We invite you to a FAIR Seminar with Amelie Schiprowski. Schiprowski is an Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of Bonn, a faculty member at ECONtribune and a research fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods. She is also affiliated with CEPR, IZAa and CESifo.
Title: Reducing Mandatory Job Search in Unemployment Insurance
Abstract: This paper studies the effects of a market-level reduction in job search provided by unemployment benefit recipients. We exploit a large-scale policy experiment in Switzerland, where a subset of Public Employment Services drastically reduced the number of required applications and vacancy referrals. Using detailed administrative data and difference-in-differences designs, we find that the policy change increased the average duration of unemployment spells by about 6%, implying an elasticity of job finding to search of about 0.25. We find suggestive evidence of limited market externalities from job search due to highly elastic vacancy posting. Finally, the policy change increased reemployment earnings by about 2% on average, suggesting that job seekers were able to direct their search toward higher paying jobs.