In a rapidly changing labour market, how can people be empowered to make better decisions about skills and work?
BIT partnered with the Future Skills Centre and three provincial governments to tackle this challenge through behavioural insights. We took a research-driven approach, conducting more than 50 interviews and running four randomized controlled trials to generate and test concrete, practical ideas.
In British Columbia, we developed new ways to share information about jobs – labour market information (LMI) – with high school students to inform their postsecondary choices.
In Alberta and Saskatchewan, we uncovered effective strategies to get recently unemployed adults into employment and career services.
Key learnings
For high schoolers: LMI can make a difference – but only if it’s done right. Carefully selected and simply presented data about labour market outcomes generated a 19% relative increase in participants choosing a higher opportunity occupation.
For jobseekers: Describe employment services as a natural extension of applying for unemployment benefits, and follow up with jobseekers who don’t take up services right away. Following up 4-10 weeks after initial contact gives folks time to recover from the shock and scramble of losing their job – and it’s not too late.
See the full report for more details about what we found and how to use the insights.
Takeaways for practitioners and policymakers
We translated the experimental evidence into practical actions for career education practitioners and employment services providers and policymakers. While this research was based in Canada, policymakers worldwide may find these insights valuable to develop effective labour market policies and programs.
The summaries feature many evidence-based suggestions, including:
- Elements to include in labour market information for students
- Email templates to encourage career services uptake among the recently unemployed
- Communications channels to reach jobseekers
