TY - JOUR
T1 - The impact of unemployment insurance on job search
T2 - Evidence from google search data
AU - Baker, Scott R.
AU - Fradkin, Andrey
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
PY - 2017/12/1
Y1 - 2017/12/1
N2 - Job search is a key choice variable in theories of labor markets but is difficult to measure directly. We develop a job search activity index based on Google search data, the Google Job Search Index (GJSI). We validate the GJSI with both survey- and web-based measures of job search. Unlike those measures, the GJSI is high frequency, geographically precise, and available in real time. We demonstrate the GJSI's utility by using it to study the effects of unemployment insurance policy changes between 2008 and 2014. We find no evidence of an economically meaningful effect of these changes on aggregate search.
AB - Job search is a key choice variable in theories of labor markets but is difficult to measure directly. We develop a job search activity index based on Google search data, the Google Job Search Index (GJSI). We validate the GJSI with both survey- and web-based measures of job search. Unlike those measures, the GJSI is high frequency, geographically precise, and available in real time. We demonstrate the GJSI's utility by using it to study the effects of unemployment insurance policy changes between 2008 and 2014. We find no evidence of an economically meaningful effect of these changes on aggregate search.
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U2 - 10.1162/REST_a_00674
DO - 10.1162/REST_a_00674
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85033553980
SN - 0034-6535
VL - 99
SP - 756
EP - 768
JO - Review of Economics and Statistics
JF - Review of Economics and Statistics
IS - 5
ER -
