The IAB Job Vacancy Survey: design and research potential

Mario Bossler,Alexander Kubis,Benjamin Küfner,Benjamin Lochner,Nicole Gürtzgen

doi:10.1186/s12651-020-00278-6

Abstract

This article provides an overview of the IAB Job Vacancy Survey and its research potential. The IAB Job Vacancy Survey is a quarterly establishment survey covering the (un-)satisfied labor demand in Germany. This survey identifies the entire number of vacancies on the German labor market, including those vacancies that are not reported to the Federal Employment Agency. The main questionnaire obtains information about the number and structure of vacancies, future labor demand, the current economic situation and the expected development of participating establishments. In addition, the questionnaire collects information about the last new hiring and the last case of a failed recruitment process. Finally, the questionnaire enquires about employer attitudes and firms’ use of current labor market instruments. The Research Data Centre of the German Federal Employment Agency offers access to the data starting from the survey waves 2000 onwards.

Highlights

Despite its key role in labor market processes, the demand side of the labor market is still viewed as a black box in most empirical labor market research
We present one of the few data sets that provides information on the structure and level of both met and unmet labor demand: The Institute for Employment Research (IAB) Job Vacancy Survey (IAB JVS)
The survey aims to fill a notable gap in microdata availability, as other data sets characterizing employers’ recruitment behavior in a comparable manner are scarce

Summary

Introduction

Despite its key role in labor market processes, the demand side of the labor market is still viewed as a black box in most empirical labor market research. We present one of the few data sets that provides information on the structure and level of both met and unmet labor demand: The IAB Job Vacancy Survey (IAB JVS). The objective of the IAB JVS, which has been carried out by the Institute for Employment Research (IAB) since 1989, is twofold: The first goal is to provide comprehensive information on the structure and number of registered and unregistered vacancies in the German labor market (for an earlier description, see Kettner et al 2011). The Federal Employment Agency (FEA) statistics only include part of the aggregate vacancies, i.e. the number of reported vacancies for which employers have used the services of

Objectives

Results

Conclusion