Search and Matching Frictions for Day Labourers in Pakistan

Research Note
Published on 8 August 2022

Abstract

In this pilot study, we demonstrate that low-skilled day labourers who are socially connected to their employers have significantly higher chances of securing jobs, irrespective of having lower productivity than their lesser connected counterparts in Pakistan. Our findings suggest that introducing interventions in employer’s hiring practices such as monetary incentives, worker productivity information sharing, and altering employer onsite monitoring time, may lead to optimum productivity in the short-term day labour market.

Authors

Christina Brown

University of California, Berkeley

Maryiam Haroon

Lahore School of Economics