Projects
Applying Behavioral Insights in Labor Programs
2017 – 2023
Project Overview
Objective
To design and test applications of behavioral science to improve Department of Labor programs and strategies by reflecting a deeper understanding of human decision-making and follow-through.
Project Motivation
DOL wished to offer new tools to improve outcomes by combining what we know from psychology and economics, which suggest that a deeper understanding of decision-making and behavior could improve program design and operation.
Partners in Progress
Employment and workforce development agencies in Washington State, North Carolina, Michigan, and Ohio
Prepared For
U.S. Department of Labor
Many of DOL’s programs and policies are designed to encourage people, firms, and organizations to behave in ways that are consistent with their goals and meet legal and regulatory requirements. A key challenge, however, is that people do not always behave in ways consistent with expectations or even their own intentions.
The project team seeks to applied behaviorally informed strategies across a host of DOL agencies to improve the outcomes of members of the public who engage with those agencies. The project engaged with the Office of Unemployment Insurance (OUI), the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP), Wage and Hour Division (WHD), and the Office of Workforce Investment (OWI). Employment security divisions in North Carolina and Washington have partnered with the project team to implement behavioral intervention trials testing whether behavioral strategies might help improve work search among unemployment insurance (UI) claimants. And partners in Michigan and Ohio worked with the project to co-develop and test solutions designed to improve job search and engagement with employment services.
Evidence & Insights From This Project
Publication
Behavioral Interventions to Improve Work Search Among UI Claimants
A report presenting trial designs and findings from two randomized controlled trials evaluating effects of behaviorally informed changes to state unemployment insurance office communications about work search requirements for individuals receiving unemployment insurance benefits.
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