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  5. Worker Responses to Information about Employers
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Worker Responses to Information about Employers

Paper Session

Saturday, Jan. 6, 2024 8:00 AM - 10:00 AM (CST)

Grand Hyatt, Crockett C/D
Hosted By: Labor and Employment Relations Association
  • Chair: Eliza Forsythe, University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign

The Value of Pecuniary and Non-pecuniary Job Amenities for Student Workers: Evidence from a Field Experiment

Amanda Chuan
,
Michigan State University
Hye Jin Rho
,
Michigan State University

Abstract

Many begin their work lives with a part-time job while in school. These jobs shape preferences over work and help youth navigate the school-to-work transition. However, little is known regarding the job features that appeal to student workers. We partner with a large state university to recruit its students for real jobs. We randomize over 35,000 students to receive emails which vary information about wages, required work hours per week, and schedule flexibility. To measure students' responses to this information, we track their real job applications and activity on the recruitment website. We pair this with a survey regarding their preferences over jobs. Responses to survey vignettes indicate that students' reservation wages are significantly lower for jobs which offer more flexibility. Moreover, reservation wages are significantly lower for employers which laid off a fewer fraction of students during the Covid-19 pandemic. Lastly, they are significantly lower for employers which prioritized financial needs over in choosing who to retain during pandemic-induced mass layoffs.

Rejection Communication and Women's Job Search Persistence

Sofia Bapna
,
University of Minnesota
Alan Benson
,
University of Minnesota
Russell Funk
,
University of Minnesota
Joao Sedoc
,
New York University

Abstract

We examine whether the reasons that employers provide for rejecting job candidates affect their likelihood of applying for future positions, and differential responses by gender. Through a randomized controlled field experiment among job candidates rejected for positions by a staffing company, we find that relative to men, women are less likely to apply for future positions after being rejected. Furthermore, we find that this gap is nearly eliminated by informing applicants that they were rejected for ``fit'' rather than ``quality'' or by providing no reason for the job rejection. We present survey evidence that workers view the quality message as demeaning and the no-reason message as ambiguous. Our findings lend support for hypotheses that women have relative tastes for non-competitive and transparent application procedures, and that gender disparity in job search persistence may be reduced by framing rejection in terms of fit.

Non-Disclosure Agreements and Externalities from Silence

Jason Sockin
,
University of Pennsylvania
Evan Starr
,
University of Maryland
Aaron Sojourner
,
W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research

Abstract

Do non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) distort labor markets? We address this question by leveraging new data on NDA use and state laws that prohibited employers from using NDAs to conceal unlawful workplace conduct. We find that this narrowing of NDAs increased worker's willingness to share negative information, both in online reviews of employers and in sexual harassment complaints to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. In turn, employers' average online ratings fell, dispersion in ratings across employers rose, and employee turnover slowed. Our results highlight how employers can use broad NDAs to silence workers and inflate their reputations, but doing so imposes negative externalities both on jobseekers who value such information and on competing employers who are less able to stand out.

Discussant(s)
Samuel Dodini
,
Norwegian School of Economics
Anna Stansbury
,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Junjie Guo
,
University of Wisconsin-Madison
JEL Classifications
  • J3 - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs