Caria, S., Franklin, S. and Witte, M.J. (2023). Searching With Friends Journal of Labor Economics, 41(4):887--922.


  • Affiliated author
    Marc Witte
  • Publication year
    2023
  • Journal
    Journal of Labor Economics

We study how active labor market policies affect the exchange of information and support among job seekers. Leveraging a unique social network survey in Ethiopia, we find that a randomized job search assistance intervention reduces information sharing and support between treated job seekers and their active job search partners. Because of lower job search support, untreated individuals search less and, suggestively, have worse employment outcomes. These results are consistent with a model of networks where unemployed individuals form job search partnerships to exploit the complementarities of job search.