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Behavioural insight and the labour market: evidence from a pilot study and a large stepped-wedge controlled trial

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 August 2019

Michael Sanders Open the ORCID record for Michael Sanders [Opens in a new window] ,
Guglielmo Briscese ,
Rory Gallagher ,
Alex Gyani ,
Samuel Hanes ,
Elspeth Kirkman  and
Owain Service
Michael Sanders*
Affiliation:
The Policy Institute, King’s College London, London, UK
Guglielmo Briscese
Affiliation:
The Behavioural Insights Team, London, UK
Rory Gallagher
Affiliation:
The Behavioural Insights Team, London, UK
Alex Gyani
Affiliation:
The Behavioural Insights Team, London, UK
Samuel Hanes
Affiliation:
The Behavioural Insights Team, London, UK
Elspeth Kirkman
Affiliation:
The Behavioural Insights Team, London, UK
Owain Service
Affiliation:
The Behavioural Insights Team, London, UK
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail: michael.t.sanders@kcl.ac.uk
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Abstract

In this article, we describe two experiments measuring the impact of a collection of interventions informed by behavioural sciences to reduce unemployment. In a small-scale pilot study (n = 2,383) run in partnership with a Jobcentre in the UK, we found that small changes to the way jobseekers interacted with employment advisers showed promising effects. Based on these findings, we refined our intervention and tested it in a second, larger trial (n = 88,033) across 12 Jobcentres in the UK. We found that our intervention significantly increased off-flow from benefits. These experiments demonstrate that policies and programmes aimed at reducing unemployment can benefit greatly from a deeper understanding of the behaviours of jobseekers and employment advisers. Further, we suggest that this approach could have positive implications for other areas of public policy.

Keywords

field experimentlabour marketpolicystepped wedgeunemployment
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Public Policy , Volume 41 , Issue 1 , March 2021 , pp. 42 - 65
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2019

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