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The Intensity of Job Search and Search Duration

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  • R. Jason Faberman
  • Marianna Kudlyak

Abstract

We use micro data on applications to job openings by individuals on a job search website to study the relationship between search intensity and search duration. Our data allow us to control for several factors that can affect the measured relationship between intensity and duration, including the composition of job seekers and changes in the number of available job openings over the duration of search. We find that a job seeker sends fewer applications per week as search continues. We also find that job seekers who search on the website longer tend to send more applications in every period. We attribute this finding to job seeker heterogeneity. Controlling for the local stock of vacancies does little to affect the result, mainly because job seekers continue to apply to older vacancies well into their search spell.

Suggested Citation

  • R. Jason Faberman & Marianna Kudlyak, 2014. "The Intensity of Job Search and Search Duration," Working Paper 14-12, Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond.
  • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedrwp:14-12
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Job applications; vacancies; labor market search effort; search duration;
    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
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials

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