The behavioural response of firms to unsolicited applications for apprenticeship contracts: evidence from a randomized experiment?

This research project analyses the effect of an internet-based recommender system that identifies establishments likely to hire apprentices at the selected level of training and in the geographical area of interest. Such system is expected to improve the targeting of unsolicited applications, thereby enhancing the quality and quantity of matches between candidates to apprenticeship programmes and firms. The system we analyse is a French website - La Bonne Alternance (LBA) - rolled out by Pôle- Emploi in 2018. It is receiving now about 1.5 million of visits per year and displays about 500.000 firms. It has received sizable attention in the public debate because of both its audience and the difficulties to foster high-quality apprenticeships in France. In terms of methods, the research project builds on a randomized controlled experiment that inhibits some of the firms normally displayed on the website. The RCT has already started and will run over 9 months in total. Given the audience of the website and the size of the pool of firms normally displayed on the website, the large-scale experiment allows us to detect very small impacts. The data analysis will start in August, using administrative databases on the DARES’ premises. This document describes the application for funding a research assistant to work on the data.