Do digital information technologies help unemployed job seekers find a job? Evidence from the broadband internet expansion in Germany

Arbeitspapier

This paper studies effects of the introduction of a new digital mass medium on reemployment of unemployed job seekers. We combine data on high-speed (broadband) internet availability at the local level with individual register data on the unemployed in Germany. We address endogeneity by exploiting technological peculiarities in the network that affected the roll-out of high-speed internet. The results show that high-speed internet improves reemployment rates after the first months of the unemployment spell. This is confirmed by complementary analysis with individual survey data suggesting that online job search leads to additional formal job interviews after a few months in unemployment.

Object Details

• Language: Deutsch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: ZEW Discussion Papers ; No. 18-030

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search ; Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law ; Publicly Provided Goods: General ; Telecommunications ; Single Equation Models: Single Variables: Instrumental Variables (IV) Estimation
• Subject: unemployment ; online job search ; information frictions ; matching technology ; search channels

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Gürtzgen, Nicole ; Nolte, André ; Pohlan, Laura ; van den Berg, Gerard J.
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Zentrum für Europäische Wirtschaftsforschung (ZEW)
• (where): Mannheim
• (when): 2018

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/179938
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:43 AM CET