Effects of job referrals on labor market outcomes in Brazil

This paper is the first to use program administrative data from Brazil’s National Employment System (SINE) to assess the impact of SINE job interview referrals on labor market outcomes. We use data from a five-year period (2012–16) to evaluate the impact of SINE job referrals on reemployment, time until reemployment, job tenure, and wage rates. Causal impact estimates based on propensity score matching suggest that a SINE job interview referral increases the probability of finding a job within three months of the referral and reduces the number of months needed to find reemployment, the average job tenure of the next job, and the reemployment wage. Subgroup analysis suggests that SINE is particularly effective at helping less educated workers find work in a timely fashion. Finally, the evidence suggests that the self-service online labor exchange is less effective than the in-person job interview referrals provided at SINE offices.