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Is Internet Job Search Still Ineffective?

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  • Peter Kuhn
  • Hani Mansour

Abstract

While the Internet has been found to reduce trading frictions in a number of other markets, existing research has failed to detect such an effect in the labor market. In this paper, we replicate Kuhn and Skuterud's (2004) study – which found that Internet job search (IJS) was associated with longer unemployment durations in 1998/2000 – using comparable data from a decade later. We find that IJS now appears to be effective: it reduces individual workers' unemployment durations by about 25 percent. This finding is robust to controls for workers' AFQT scores and detailed indicators of Internet access. IJS appears to be most effective in reducing unemployment durations when used to contact friends and relatives, to send out resumes or fill out applications, and also to look at ads. We detect no effect of IJS on wage growth between jobs.
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Suggested Citation

  • Peter Kuhn & Hani Mansour, 2014. "Is Internet Job Search Still Ineffective?," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 124(581), pages 1213-1233, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:econjl:v:124:y:2014:i:581:p:1213-1233
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1111/ecoj.2014.124.issue-581
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Holzer, Harry J, 1988. "Search Method Use by Unemployed Youth," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 6(1), pages 1-20, January.
    2. John T. Addison & Pedro Portugal, 2002. "Job search methods and outcomes," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 54(3), pages 505-533, July.
    3. Andrea Weber & Helmut Mahringer, 2008. "Choice and success of job search methods," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 35(1), pages 153-178, August.
    4. Peter Kuhn & Mikal Skuterud, 2004. "Internet Job Search and Unemployment Durations," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(1), pages 218-232, March.
    5. Osberg, Lars, 1993. "Fishing in Different Pools: Job Search Strategies and Job-Finding Success in Canada in the Early 1980s," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 11(2), pages 348-386, April.
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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • J64 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search

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