Welfare programs often consist of mandated in-person assistance services. This feature can introduce an engagement barrier for some beneficiaries. Offering some of these services online can address this problem while also reducing administrative costs. In a field experiment with about 2,700 beneficiaries of unemployment benefits, we evaluate the effectiveness of a self-directed website that supplements assistance traditionally delivered by job center staff. Tracking employment outcomes for nearly two years, we find that the intervention significantly increased job-finding rates for some groups. Towards the end of the first year, the effect is still 7 percentage points (25 percent higher than in the control group) for prime-age job seekers (35 to 50 years old) and 9 percentage points (35 percent higher than the control group) for women, reversing the job-finding gender gap. We discuss opportunities for governments to scale up similar low-cost interventions to assist social insurance and welfare beneficiaries online.

中文翻译：

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在线提供政府援助：对失业者的实地实验

福利计划通常包括强制性的面对面援助服务。此功能可能会给某些受益人带来参与障碍。在线提供其中一些服务可以解决这个问题，同时还可以降低管理成本。在对大约 2,700 名失业救济金受益人进行的实地实验中，我们评估了一个自我导向网站的有效性，该网站补充了传统上由就业中心工作人员提供的援助。跟踪近两年的就业结果，我们发现干预显着提高了某些群体的求职率。到第一年年底，对黄金年龄求职者（35-50岁）和9个百分点（比对照组高35%）的影响仍然是7个百分点（比对照组高25%） ） 对女性来说，扭转找工作的性别差距。我们讨论了政府扩大类似低成本干预措施以在线帮助社会保险和福利受益人的机会。