We need more experiments

The assistence job seekers receive from Unemployment Offices to find jobs is perhaps not as good as we might hope. A Study by Bruno Crépon, Esther Duflo, Marc Gurgand, Roland Rathelot, and Philippe Zamora (QJE; working paper version here) assesses youth unemployment policy in France using a controlled experiment:

"Job counselling" – a key French policy that prepares some job seekers for the recruitment process, and connects them with potential employers – seems to only marginally improve graduate’s chances of employment. Moreover, the evidence suggests that what’s good for one graduate may be bad for another: the beneficiaries of intensive job counselling are more likely to find employment simply at the expense of other job seekers. (Job placement and displacement.)

We need more experiments.