2023/01/19 by Emma van Inwegen, Zanele Munyikwa, van Inwegen, Emma +3 · 3 citations
Computer Science · Social Sciences · #Digital Economy and Work Transformation #FOS: Economics and business #General Economics (econ.GN) #Hate Speech and Cyberbullying Detection #Names, Identity, and Discrimination Research
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2301.08083
openalex publication_date 2023/01/19 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
There is a strong association between the quality of the writing in a resume for new labor market entrants and whether those entrants are ultimately hired. We show that this relationship is, at least partially, causal: a field experiment in an online labor market was conducted with nearly half a million jobseekers in which a treated group received algorithmic writing assistance. Treated jobseekers experienced an 8% increase in the probability of getting hired. Contrary to concerns that the assistance is taking away a valuable signal, we find no evidence that employers were less satisfied. We present a model in which better writing is not a signal of ability but helps employers ascertain ability, which rationalizes our findings.