Job search behaviour and access to references on a job-matching platform in Pakistan
Labour markets in developing countries face inefficiencies due to information asymmetries, particularly in verifying jobseekers’ qualifications, which disproportionately affect women and younger workers. This policy brief highlights the potential of centralised reference verification systems to reduce these frictions, improve hiring outcomes, and promote more equitable access to employment opportunities.
Authors
Robert Garlick
Research Associate, Department of Economics, Duke UniversityNivedhitha Subramanian
Researcher
Katherine Vyborny
Economist at the World Bank South Asia Region Gender Innovation LabAiman Farrukh
Senior Research Associate, Women's Mobility Programme, Centre for Economic Research Pakistan
Lala Rukh Khan
Consultant, South Asia Gender Innovation Lab, World BankHarmalah Khan
Project Manager, Centre for Economic Research Pakistan
Mehwish Waheed
Research Associate, Centre for Economic Research Pakistan-
Field-et-al-Policy-Brief-April-2025.pdf
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- Reference letters could give firms more useful information about job applicants' skills and performance, but providing and collecting references for many different applications is costly.
- We assess how centralised reference checks can be integrated into an online job-matching platform.
- Women are less likely to list references than men, and referees provided by women are more likely to respond to requests for references.
- Women’s referees are more likely to be from educational institutions, while men's references are more likely from past employers.