The Role of Caseworkers: Job Finding, Job Quality, and Determinants of Value-Added
利用瑞典求职者按出生日期随机分配个案工作者的自然实验，研究发现个案工作者对失业时长和工作质量有显著影响，且经验丰富的工作者表现更好，匹配策略能改善结果。
Abstract We study the importance of caseworkers and their role in supporting unemployed job seekers. By exploiting as-if random variation, arising from job seekers in Sweden being assigned to caseworkers based on their date of birth, we estimate caseworker value-added along several dimensions. We show that caseworkers have meaningful effects on both job seekers’ time in unemployment and subsequent job quality. These effects also impact job seekers’ long-run outcomes. We find only weak trade-offs between different dimensions of value added. Leveraging detailed administrative data on both caseworkers and job seekers, we document that experienced caseworkers perform better than their less experienced counterparts. Caseworker work strategies are important in determining value added, and matching caseworkers to job seekers based on previous labor market experiences leads to better outcomes.