Essays on the Determinants of Job Search Behavior and Employment.

Summary This thesis explores different determinants of job search behavior, with the aim of understanding some of the barriers to returning to work for the most disadvantaged workers. The first chapter is devoted to the impact evaluation of an innovative collective support program for unemployed youth in sensitive urban areas. This program appears to be more effective than a traditional program in providing access to stable employment. The largest effect is detected among participants who are assigned to a group with unemployed people in great difficulty. In the second chapter, I study the impact of an information shock on the job search and return probability of the unemployed. My results suggest that providing information that allows the unemployed to direct their applications to firms that are most likely to make short-term hires can correct some inequalities in access to employment and stimulate geographic mobility. The third chapter explores the underlying mechanisms behind the negative effect of unemployment insurance duration on the return-to-work rate. Search effort increases by 25 percent in the months surrounding the end date of unemployment insurance entitlement, even when the impact of dynamic selection is neutralized. An extension of unemployment insurance affects job search behavior mainly through a decline in the peak in job search intensity observed around the date of exhaustion of entitlements.