Abstract
We leverage rich data from a prominent online job board in Uruguay to assess directed
search patterns in job applications, focusing on posted wages and advertised non-wage
amenities. We find robust evidence of directed search based on posted wages in the crosssection, with stark heterogeneity by occupation: the wage-application correlation is driven
by vacancies attached to lower-skill occupations, with applications to vacancies attached
to higher-skill occupations showing no responsiveness to posted wages. By applying
text analysis to the job ads, we elicit advertised non-wage amenities and find evidence
of directed search based on non-wage amenities. Applications to vacancies attached to
lower-skill occupations are consistent with lexicographic application preferences: amenities
predict applications to these vacancies only when wages are not posted. Finally, we
exploit industry-by-occupation minimum wage variation to demonstrate that the observed
occupational heterogeneity in directed search patterns is supported by quasi-experimental
difference-in-differences estimates of the impact of wages on job applications.