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Building sectoral job search indices for the United States

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  • Pan, Wei-Fong

Abstract

This study investigates job search activity in the United States by constructing a set of sectoral job search activity indices based on Internet search volumes. The indices are positively associated with countercyclical labour market measures, including unemployment and layoff rates, but are negatively associated with procyclical measures. Overall, our evidence supports previous empirical findings – job search intensity is countercyclical – which contradicts the theoretical model’s prediction.

Suggested Citation

  • Pan, Wei-Fong, 2019. "Building sectoral job search indices for the United States," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 180(C), pages 89-93.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:180:y:2019:i:c:p:89-93
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2019.04.019
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Hie Joo Ahn & Ling Shao, 2017. "Precautionary On-the-Job Search over the Business Cycle," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2017-025, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    2. Krueger, Alan B. & Mueller, Andreas, 2010. "Job search and unemployment insurance: New evidence from time use data," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(3-4), pages 298-307, April.
    3. Toshihiko Mukoyama & Christina Patterson & Ayşegül Şahin, 2018. "Job Search Behavior over the Business Cycle," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 10(1), pages 190-215, January.
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    5. Stephen DeLoach & Mark Kurt, 2013. "Discouraging Workers: Estimating the Impacts of Macroeconomic Shocks on the Search Intensity of the Unemployed," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 34(4), pages 433-454, December.
    6. D'Amuri, Francesco & Marcucci, Juri, 2009. "‘Google it!’ Forecasting the US unemployment rate with a Google job search index," ISER Working Paper Series 2009-32, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    7. Mueller, Andreas, 2010. "On-the-job search and wage dispersion: New evidence from time use data," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 109(2), pages 124-127, November.
    8. Harvey, A C & Jaeger, A, 1993. "Detrending, Stylized Facts and the Business Cycle," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 8(3), pages 231-247, July-Sept.
    9. Robert Shimer, 2005. "The Cyclical Behavior of Equilibrium Unemployment and Vacancies," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(1), pages 25-49, March.
    10. Gomme, Paul & Lkhagvasuren, Damba, 2015. "Worker search effort as an amplification mechanism," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 106-122.
    11. D’Amuri, Francesco & Marcucci, Juri, 2010. "“Google it!” Forecasting the US Unemployment Rate with a Google Job Search index," Global Challenges Papers 60680, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM).
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    13. Mark Aguiar & Erik Hurst & Loukas Karabarbounis, 2013. "Time Use during the Great Recession," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 103(5), pages 1664-1696, August.
    14. Leyva Gustavo, 2018. "Against All Odds: Job Search during the Great Recession," Working Papers 2018-13, Banco de México.
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    Cited by:

    1. Matthias S. Hertweck & Vivien Lewis & Stefania Villa, 2021. "Going the Extra Mile: Effort by Workers and Job‐Seekers," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 53(8), pages 2099-2127, December.
    2. Bransch, Felix, 2021. "Job search intensity of unemployed workers and the business cycle," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 205(C).
    3. Yuki Uemura, 2022. "Job Search Intensity and Wage Rigidity in Business Cycles," KIER Working Papers 1078, Kyoto University, Institute of Economic Research.
    4. Wei‐Fong Pan & James Reade & Shixuan Wang, 2022. "Measuring US regional economic uncertainty," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(4), pages 1149-1178, September.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Job search activity index; Countercyclical measures; Business cycle; Google trends;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • E32 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Business Fluctuations; Cycles
    • J64 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search

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