Improving the effectiveness of job fairs for young job-seekers in Egypt
Programs and partnerships
Lead institution(s)
Summary
The project aims to help improve the efficiency of job fairs, so as to connect more job seekers to available employment in Egypt.Read more
The project aims to help improve the efficiency of job fairs, so as to connect more job seekers to available employment in Egypt. Using an experimental method, the study will assess what the main constraints are for youth to participate in job fairs — in particular those related to lack of information on, and costs of participating in job fairs — and lead to better understanding of young people’s job search behavior and the mismatch with the job demand that exists in Egypt.
The study will be carried out in direct collaboration with the national implementing agency in charge of job fairs in Egypt. It will directly benefit at least 6,000 job seekers, and many more if policymakers adapt their approach to supporting job seekers, and the private sector revisits its strategy to reach out to young job-seekers.
Research outputs
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The research aimed to bridge the mismatch between job seekers and employers and mitigate job search obstacles through improving job matching in job fairs. It studied effects of bridging general information frictions (do job seekers know about the existence of jobs fairs and how to participate in them?); labor market information frictions (what types of jobs are available in job fairs and the labor market more broadly); and capital constraints (how do the monetary costs of attending a job fair impact participation?). Participants who received both the information and travel voucher increased their job fair attendance by 9.8 percentage points (a 280% increase relative to control).
This detailed report covers causes and conditions of the mismatch between employers and those seeking employment in Egypt. It then argues for the effectiveness of job fairs to bridge the recruitment gap. Lack of information is as big a constraint as monetary constraints/transportation costs in job fair attendance. A travel voucher treatment was cross-randomized with information supply and shows that people who received both the information and the voucher increased their job fair attendance by 9.8 percentage points (a 280% increase relative to control). The report also includes the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the labour market.
The economic gender gap in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region remains one of the largest in the world. Female labor force participation in MENA is the lowest globally, estimated at 20 percent (2019). The article presents arguments related to women’s participation in the job market, including men’s perceptions, along with practical realities of child care, commuting, low salaries, and lack of access to information. Emerging evidence from randomized evaluations in Egypt suggests that a range of programs to support women finding and getting to the work site, and interventions to update men’s perceptions, can increase women’s labor force participation.