Table E.1: Comparison Between Audit and Workseeker Study Samples

||Works|eekers in au|dit samp|le<br>Al|l workseeke|rs|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||Mean|Std Dev.|Obs|Mean|Std Dev.|Obs|
|_Panel A: Characteristics of applications received from wor_|_kseeker_|_s_|||||
|Includes references or a reference letter|0.91|0.29|713|-|-|-|
|Includes a copy of ID document|0.47|0.50|714|-|-|-|
|Includes information about secondary school completion|0.55|0.50|714|-|-|-|
|_Panel B: Characteristics of workseekers_|||||||
|Public treatment|0.30|0.46|717|0.33|0.47|6891|
|Private treatment|0.37|0.48|717|0.31|0.46|6891|
|Age|23.2|3.12|717|23.6|3.30|6891|
|Male|0.48|0.50|717|0.38|0.49|6891|
|University degree / diploma|0.18|0.38|717|0.17|0.37|6891|
|Any other post-secondary qualifcation|0.24|0.42|717|0.21|0.41|6891|
|Completed secondary education only|0.58|0.49|717|0.61|0.49|6891|
|Numeracy assessment score (z-score)|0.06|0.96|717|0.05|0.99|6891|
|Literacy/communications assessment score (z-score)|0.02|0.94|717|0.05|0.99|6891|
|Concept formation assessment score (z-score)|0.11|0.93|717|0.05|0.99|6891|
|Grit assessment score (z-score)|0.10|0.99|717|0.03|0.99|6891|
|Worked in the last 7 days (endline)|0.40|0.49|717|0.38|0.48|6891|

line, and generic email message.<sup>32</sup> We send most applications within 2 weeks of compiling the vacancy list.

We use a three-stage randomization process. First, we generate multiple applications per candidate and randomly assign half of these to treatment status and half to control status. Treatment applications are sent with a public certificate and control applications without any certificate. In all other respects, treatment and control applications are identical. This randomization is independent of workseekers’ treatment status in the workseekers’ study. This generates within- and between-candidate variation in the information content of their applications. Second, we randomize vacancies to receive either one or three applications with reports. This generates within-vacancy variation in the information content of the applications received and between-vacancy variation in the overall information environment. Third, we randomly match applications to vacancies, subject to the target number of treated and control applications and the constraint that no candidate’s application is sent to the same vacancy more than once. The realized distribution of treatment assignments shown in Table E.2, Panel A matches the intended design: half of the applications are sent with certificates and, mechanically, applications sent with reports are three times more likely to be sent to vacancies that receive three applications with reports.

We monitor and record responses for two weeks after sending the applications. We classify each response into one of these categories: (1) interview invitation, (2) request to send more information or visit the establishment in person, (3) email bounce, (4) scam, and (5) other - mostly personalized

> 32We cross-randomize the subject lines “Application for _<_ vacancy _>_ ” and “Application for _<_ candidate name _>_ ” with the email messages “Please find attached the application for _<_ vacancy _>_ as recently advertised online” and “Please find the application for _<_ candidate name _>_ for _<_ vacancy _>_ , as recently advertised online.”

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