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Cyclicality of labour market search: a new big data approach

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  • Christian Hutter

    (Institute for Employment Research (IAB))

Abstract

This paper exploits big data on online activity from the job exchange of the German Federal Employment Agency and its internal placement-software to generate measures for search activity of employers and job seekers and—as a novel feature—for placement activity of employment agencies. In addition, the average search perimeter in the job seekers’ search profiles can be measured. The data are used to estimate the behaviour of the search and placement activities during the business and labour market cycle and their seasonal patterns. The results show that the search activities of firms and employment agencies are procyclical. By contrast, job seekers’ search intensity shows a countercyclical pattern, at least before the COVID-19 crisis.

Suggested Citation

  • Christian Hutter, 2021. "Cyclicality of labour market search: a new big data approach," Journal for Labour Market Research, Springer;Institute for Employment Research/ Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), vol. 55(1), pages 1-16, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:jlabrs:v:55:y:2021:i:1:d:10.1186_s12651-020-00283-9
    DOI: 10.1186/s12651-020-00283-9
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Big data; Labour market search intensity; Placement activity; Cyclicality;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers
    • J64 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search
    • C55 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric Modeling - - - Large Data Sets: Modeling and Analysis

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