Effects of Mandatory Job Postings on Labor Market Outcomes

Effects of Mandatory Job Postings on Labor Market Outcomes

Fabrizio Colella (USI)

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ABSTRACT:

This paper studies how mandating job postings impacts firms’ recruiting practices, employment, and wages, exploiting the Swiss Job Vacancy Notice Obligation (JVNO) policy, which requires firms hiring in high-unemployment occupations to post vacancies on a public online platform. We leverage administrative data and estimate two empirical models: a regression discontinuity design comparing occupations around the unemployment rate threshold, and a firm-level shift-share approach capturing differential exposure to treated occupations. We find that the policy leads to a significant increase in both job postings and posting firms in treated occupations, with effects driven primarily by smaller firms. Firm-level evidence shows that these changes reflect a genuine expansion in employment rather than a simple reallocation of hiring activity, and are accompanied by increases in wages. We further document higher exit rates from unemployment to treated occupations, with no corresponding increase in job search activity. Taken together, the results indicate that mandatory job postings can improve matching efficiency by increasing vacancy creation and improving the allocation of workers to jobs.

BIO:

Fabrizio Colella is an Assistant Professor in the Institute of Economics at the Università della Svizzera italiana (USI). His research lies in labor economics and applied econometrics, with a focus on how economic shocks and discriminatory behavior affect workers' performance and job sorting.