Job Search Channels Research Articles

Exploring the Influence of Sociodemographic Backgrounds on Money Mule Recruitment Types in South Korea: An Analysis of Probabilities from Machine Learning Classifiers

ABSTRACT This study explores the influence of socio-demographic characteristics on money mule recruitment types in South Korea. Analyzing data from 543 apprehended money mules, probabilities were calculated for each group’s involvement in recruitment types. Using class membership probability estimates from six machine learning methods, the research investigates the probability relationship between socio-demographic characteristics and recruitment types. Findings indicate that unemployed individuals in their 20s with intermediate education levels are more likely to be recruited through social media, while offline recruitment is prevalent among unemployed teenagers with low education levels and men over 50s with criminal records. Highly educated unemployed individuals in their 20s and 30s show a higher probability of using online job search channels. The study provides valuable insights into the complex interplay between sociodemographic factors and money mule recruitment, offering potential implications for law enforcement agencies in developing effective crime prevention strategies. Further analysis will shed light on the underlying reasons behind these results.

Education, Off-the-Job Vocational Training, and Early Employment Outcomes: Evidence from Italy

Education and training are primary sources of individual human capital. We explored the relationship between education and off-the-job vocational training and the impact of training programmes on youth employment in Italy. We focused on three outcomes: employment probability, use of formal/informal job search channels, and skill matching. We identified programme effects by comparing the outcomes of treatment and control groups using propensity score matching with a robustness check to assess the potential bias due to unobservable characteristics. Individuals with vocational high school degrees are more likely to participate in vocational training programmes, but in southern regions, individuals with technical or generalist high school degrees also attend vocational training programmes. Vocational training programmes have positive effects on youth employment outcomes, reduce the use of informal job search channels, and improve skill matching, especially in the centre-northern regions.

Immigration, social networks and occupational mismatch

In this study we investigate the link between the job search channels used to find employment and the probability of occupational mismatch. Our specific focus is on differences between natives and immigrants. We use data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP, 2000–2014). First, we document that referral hiring is the most frequent single channel of generating jobs in Germany; in relative terms referrals are used more frequently by immigrant workers compared to natives. Second, referral hiring is associated with the highest rate of occupational mismatch among all channels in Germany. We combine these findings and use them to develop a search and matching model with two ethnic groups, two search channels and two occupations. Our model predicts that higher rates of referral hiring produce more frequent occupational mismatch of the immigrant population compared to natives. This prediction and the underlying mechanism of the model are confirmed by the data.

Sosyal Ağların İşgücü Piyasası Eşitsizlikleri ve Okuldan İşe Geçişlere Etkisi

Countries invest in education systems in order to increase the quality of their human capital. In this context, it is seen that especially after the expansion of the higher education systems, countries try to increase higher education graduation rates in order to improve the quality of human resources in the labor market. The ultimate goal of these efforts is to facilitate the transitions from school-to-work, and to increase social welfare by meeting the human resources needs of the labor market. The facilitation of school-to-work transitions has a direct impact on youth unemployment. School-to-work transitions are influenced not only by the quality of education from primary to higher education but also by the dynamics of the labor market. Social network analysis can provide important insights into this dynamics, and in doing so reveal that there are indeed many factors that play a key role in determining who gets a job and why, including, first and foremost, social contacts. An analysis of job search channels reveals that partners, friends, and relatives are those social contacts that are most decisive for employment outcomes. Research reveals that employers use social-contact-based reference channels much more frequently than formal channels for recruitment. Thus, employers frequently use such reference channels in recruitment. It has also been shown that the use of social-contact channels reduces employers' costs of finding suitable employees and increases productivity since employees hired through these channels also stay longer in their firms. We here explore the full potential of social network analysis to better our understanding of school-to-work transitions, to reveal in no uncertain terms the importance of social contacts, and to show how these insights can be leveraged to level the labor market for all involved. An important take-home message is that the labor market dynamics is strongly affected by the Matthew effect, such that the inequalities and the gaps between opportunities only grow and widen as the underlying social networks evolve. It is therefore important to mitigate these effects well before school-to-work transitions come into play, namely during the education. In particular, we assert that minimizing the inequalities during education should effectively mitigate the uneven impact of social networks on school-to-work transitions.

Employment Access and Job Search Channels for Young People in Congo

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the channels through which young people in Congo access and seek employment. To achieve this goal, we relied on contemporary job search theory. The results obtained from a bivariate probit model on the basis of data from the survey carried out by the “Laboratoire de Recherches et d’Etudes Economiques et Sociales” in 2018 on the employability of young people showed that social networks are the channel through which young people access employment and that the informal sector offers more employment to young people than the formal sector. These results allow us to formulate some implications for economic policies relating to employment access and job search channels in Congo.

Türkiye’de Üniversite Mezunlarının İşsizliğini Etkileyen Değişkenlerin Sayısal Analizi

Bu çalışmada üniversite mezunu işsizlerin, işsizlik deneyimlerini etkileyen değişkenlerin betimsel ve çıkarımsal istatistiksel tekniklerle ortaya konması amaçlanmıştır. Bu amacı gerçekleştirmek için İŞKUR’a kayıt yaptıran 1237 üniversite mezunu işsize anket uygulanmıştır. Araştırmada sosyoekonomik düzey, cinsiyet, mezuniyet alanı, işsizlik süresi ve yaş bağımsız değişkenler olarak ele alınmıştır. Bağımlı değişkenler ise iş arama kanalları, işsizlik nedenlerine ilişkin algılar ve istihdam beklentileri olarak gruplanan başlıklar altında elde edilen verilerdir. Bağımsız değişkenlerin bağımlı değişkenler üzerindeki etkileri sınıflamalı verilerin arasındaki ilişkinin incelenmesini sağlayan Ki-kare Analizi ile incelenmiş, analiz 0,05 anlamlılık düzeyinde uygulanmıştır. Ayrıca bağımsız değişkenin sınıflamalı, bağımlı değişkenin sürekli değişken olduğu durumda aralarındaki ilişkiler Varyans Analizi (ANOVA Testi) ile belirlenmiştir. Araştırmadan elde edilen bulgulara göre üniversite mezunu işsizlerin kullandıkları iş arama kanalları, işsizlik nedenlerine ilişkin algıları ve istihdam beklentileri çalışmanın bağımsız değişkenlerine göre farklılık göstermektedir.

‘I changed my strategy and looked for jobs on Gumtree’: the ecological circumstances and international graduates’ agency and strategies to navigate the Australian labour market

ABSTRACT Despite a significant number of international graduates staying in the host countries on post-graduation visas, their experiences in gaining access to the host labour market are less documented. This article addresses this critical but under-researched topic. It discusses the ecological circumstances impacting international graduates’ participation in the Australian host labour market, including the temporality of their visas, employers’ concerns, constraints of the market, time issue and bargaining position. Drawing on agency theory, the study shows two forms of agency enacted by international graduates in navigating the host market: needs-response agency, entailing their choice of field, persistence, and early job-seeking, and agency as becoming, entailing their professional identity development to become more employable. The study found the following common strategies adopted by international graduates: proactively explaining their work rights to employers, using alternative job search channels, reskilling, evidencing their professional skills, undertaking internships, networking and creating jobs for themselves and other peers. The study offered fresh insights into international graduates’ career adaptive behaviours, job-seeking skills and career management skills.

Determinants of the Choice of Job Search Channels by the Unemployed Using a Multivariate Probit Model.

We investigate factors affecting the job search channels (newspapers, agency, informal network, direct contact, internet) of unemployed individuals in Italy using a multivariate probit model. We separately analyse unemployed individuals who lost their job or who are entering the labour market for the first time (i.e., with or without previous job experience, respectively). We use cross-sectional microdata covering the 2014–2018 period. We do not find important differences in the determinants in common between unemployed individuals with and without previous job experience (such as, age, education, and citizenship). The main difference between the two samples is in the composition, with more young people in the latter group (mainly individuals in the school-to-work transition) than in the first one. We find that better-educated unemployed people have more of a multichannel attitude when searching for jobs than their counterparts. Moreover, for unemployed individuals with previous job experience, the characteristics of their last job play a crucial role in influencing the choice of search channel(s). For example, unemployed individuals from high-skilled professions (that typically require the employment of better-educated individuals) choose the internet with a higher probability than other channels, while those from low-skilled professions and with experience in manufacturing have a higher probability of considering employment agencies than those in qualified professions in commercial activities and services. We have assumed that the unobservable factors affecting the decision process of a multichannel job search (estimated through the pairwise correlation coefficients across the residuals of the models) are represented by personality features of an individual, such as motivation, self-control, and preferences. A strong, positive, and significant correlation is found between job searching through the internet and direct contact with firms, but with some spatial differences between macro-areas of the country.

Evaluating the effectiveness of employment assistance measures: Case of Russian state employment centers

Russia is currently implementing the national project "Labor productivity and employment support", which is a set of measures aimed at developing employment infrastructure and introducing organizational and technological innovations to support employment, including standard solutions aimed at improving the efficiency of state employment centers. This project defines the strategic directions of state regulation of the Russian labor market. This article deals with the issues of the population's demand for the services of employment centers, including not only registering as unemployed but also receiving public services to assist in finding a suitable job, vocational training, psychological support, etc. The study is based on the Russian labor force survey and microdata of employment centers for 2019 (more than 24,000 observations). Based on the data from the labor force survey, conclusions are drawn about the demand for the state employment centers' services among various groups of the population and about typical combinations of applying to the employment service with other job search channels. The analysis of regional microdata made it possible to evaluate the performance of employment centers based on information about the socio-demographic characteristics of the unemployed, the duration of the unemployment status, the fact of receiving benefits, the services received and the reasons for de-registration. Based on the results of the analysis, conclusions are made about the ways to improve the work of the state employment centers.

The Impact of Social Segregation on the Labor Market Outcomes of Low‐Skilled Workers*

AbstractWe study the impact of network homophily on labor market outcomes in a search‐and‐matching model with two job search channels: the formal market and social contacts. There are two worker types: low‐skilled and high‐skilled workers. The homophily level determines whether the referral networks of the two types are mixed or segregated from each other. We show that there exists an intermediate homophily level that minimizes the unemployment rate and maximizes the wages of low‐skilled workers. Complete integration does not maximize the welfare of low‐skilled workers, unless it improves their productivity. We argue that our model can explain the empirical findings on the labor market effects of the Moving‐to‐Opportunity experiment and the integration of immigrants.

Immigration, Social Networks and Occupational Mismatch

In this study we investigate the link between the job search channels that workers use to find employment and the probability of occupational mismatch in the new job. Our specific focus is on differences between native and immigrant workers. We use data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) over the period 2000-2014. First, we document that referral hiring via social networks is the most frequent single channel of generating jobs in Germany; in relative terms referrals are used more frequently by immigrant workers compared to natives. Second, our data reveals that referral hiring is associated with the highest rate of occupational mismatch among all channels in Germany. We combine these findings and use them to develop a theoretical search and matching model with two ethnic groups of workers (natives and immigrants), two search channels (formal and referral hiring) and two occupations. When modeling social networks we take into account ethnic and professional homophily in the link formation. Our model predicts that immigrant workers face stronger risk of unemployment and often rely on recommendations from their friends and relatives as a channel of last resort. Furthermore, higher rates of referral hiring produce more frequent occupational mismatch of the immigrant population compared to natives. We test this prediction empirically and confirm that more intensive network hiring contributes significantly to higher rates of occupational mismatch among immigrants. Finally, we document that the gaps in the incidence of referrals and mismatch rates are reduced among second generation immigrants indicating some degree of integration in the German labour market.

Unemployment transitions in the mexican labour market and the role of job search channels

This study examines the overall effects of a set of personal characteristics, search channels and financial variables on the probability of transitioning from unemployment to employment. Using the National Occupational and Employment Survey 2005-2015 (ENOE in Spanish). There seems to be a positive and strong correlation between being formally employed and transitioning to a formal employment in period t + 1. There is a “wait unemployment”, because those with lower levels of education experience more transitions relative to more educated individuals.There seems to be a presence of a “scarring effect” which is picked up when introducing the duration of weeks of job search in the estimation, and means that unemployment spells are positively associated with remaining unemployed. Finally, women seem to benefit more when using different types of search channels such as uploading or replying a job offer online and using newspapers or classified ads to get a job.

Effect of Job Search Channels on Occupational Adaptation of College Graduates : Focusing on the Mediating Effects of Person-Job Fit

Effect of Job Search Channels on Occupational Adaptation of College Graduates : Focusing on the Mediating Effects of Person-Job Fit

Forze lavoro deboli

Among the main labour market indicators analysed in the European Labour Force survey we can observe not only the employed, the unemployed and inactive people (students, retirees, unable to work and people declaring to be unavailable to work), but also people who are available to work but who are not actively looking for a job. The so-called “discouraged” workers. The Italian labour force is characterized by strong elements of weakness: by a female employment rate lower than the European average, by an historical persistence of youth unemployment, both based on a strong territorial dispersion of job opportunities. This elements influence also the level of participation in the labour market and thus the number of “discouraged” workers. In the European comparison Italy ranks on the one hand among countries in stronger territorial employment and unemployment rates dispersion, and on the other hand it has one of the highest percentages of discouraged workers.The discouraged workers’ phenomenon has a long tradition of studies in the social sciences and its dynamics are generally associated with economic cycles.The most recent studies have validated this interpretation highlighting the strong relevance of job opportunities individual perception as a determinant in influencing the active participation in the labour force. In this paper we will try to analyse what individual characteristics (sex, age, marital status, level of education, previous work experience and job search channels) affect the propensity to become discouraged. We will analyze (using some logistic models) the data from the labour force survey at three points in time: 2007 (before the crisis), 2011 (four years after the start of the crisis), 2015 (to observe the current situation). This to understand the effect of the crisis on the propensity to become discouraged.

Unemployed Strategies in the Youth Labour Market: Rural – Urban Differences in Russia

Background/Objectives: An empirical analysis of strategies in the youth agrarian labour market, to identify the attitude of the rural unemployed youth towards professional training, acquiring a new specialty and choosing job search channels, and to understand their conception of employment. Methods/Statistical Analysis: Our research based on the micro-data of the nationwide survey Comprehensive monitoring of living conditions. Findings: The specific features of the rural young people's behavior on the Russian labour market are identified. The results of the study show that the proportion of young people living both in the city and in the countryside who do not see the point of additional training is high. An important feature of a suitable job, meeting the young people's requirements, is a good wage and the degree to which the work matches the specialty. A certain part of the young unemployed consider any job they would manage to find suitable. Applications/Improvements: Understanding of the age features of behavior of the young people on the agrarian labour market would improve the efficiency of the public employment policies.

The role of personal networks in the labour insertion of weak jobseekers

This paper investigates the labour market outcomes of a representative sample of unemployed individuals attending regional vocational training programs in Piedmont, North-West Italy. In particular, it proposes a multivariate analysis to describe and assess the effects of individual social networks (family, friends and acquaintance) on trainees' employment outcome. Analysing the influence of different network configurations on the probability of getting employed in the post-training medium period, it can be pointed out that strict and intense family ties are negatively correlated to individual employability. Moreover, it emerges that job referral is one of the most popular job search channels among Italian trainees, proving to be the most successful one.

Explaining the U-Shape of the Referral Hiring Pattern in a Search Model with Heterogeneous Workers

This paper presents a search model with heterogeneous workers, social networks and endogenous search intensity. There are three job search channels available to the unemployed: costly formal applications and two costless informal channels - through family and professional networks. The gain from being employed is increasing in the productivity, so the lowest motivation for preparing formal applications is proved to be among the least productive worker types. We assume that professional contacts exhibit a strong degree of homophily, thus it is profitable for firms to direct their network search towards the more productive incumbent employees. So the probability of a professional referral is increasing in the productivity of the worker, which mitigates the incentives to use the formal channel of search. Therefore, the model predicts that workers in the right (left) tail of the productivity distribution have the highest propensity of finding a job with a help of professional (family) contacts, whereas the formal channel of search is mostly utilized by workers in the middle range of the distribution. This explains the U-shaped referral hiring pattern in the model. The endogenous sorting of workers across channels also implies that professional (family) referrals are associated with wage premiums (penalties) compared to the formal channel of search. The average effect of referrals on wages is, however, ambiguous and depends on the relative proportions of high and low productivity types in the population. These findings help to explain the contradicting empirical evidence concerning the effect of referrals on wages.

Explaining U-shape of the referral hiring pattern in a search model with heterogeneous workers

This paper presents a search model with heterogeneous workers, social networks and endogenous search intensity. There are three job search channels: costly formal applications and two costless informal channels – through family and professional networks. Our model explains a U-shape referral hiring pattern observed in empirical studies and a strong selection of workers on productivity across the three channels. Moreover, combining family and professional referrals into one informal channel may generate a spurious result of wage premiums (penalties) if high (low) productivity workers are dominating in the empirical data and their productivity is not fully observable to the econometrician.

Job Search Channels, Neighborhood Effects, and Wages Inequality in Developing Countries: The Colombian Case

This paper analyzes the relationship between social networks and the probability of finding a job. We explore geographic closeness as the social interaction to explain the job search function. Using data from Colombia in 2009, we calculate how neighborhoods have an effect on the channel used to find a job (social network versus no social network). In addition, we study how wage premium relates to using a social network in finding a job, exploring the inequality that can arise using a different job search method. Our results show that neighborhood affects the individual's job search method and that referred workers earn less at the bottom of the wage distribution with respect to non‐referred workers. Colombia presents persistent high levels of informality and inequality with the existence of spatial clusters that impose important social and economic costs with strong informational asymmetries on the job market.

Do Contacts Matter for Early Labor Market Success? Evidence on Job Search Strategies of New Entrants

This paper investigates theoretical and empirical relationships between the use of alternative job search channels and labor market outcomes. Drawing on recruitment and job search literatures, I argue that the use of personal contacts is not only advantageous to land high-wage jobs, but also leads to non-financial benefits for job searchers. Empirically, I draw on a large and representative dataset of university graduates recently entering the German labor market. In a first step, I study how new entrants use different search channels. Thereby, I take into account that more than a single search source may be used during job search, and that certain configurations rather than single sources may produce regularities. In a second step, I explore the mechanism that drives search source effectiveness. I advance the stream of research by asking (a) who self-selects into particular search source types; and (b) how source use (given self-selection) translates into monetary and non-monetary labor market outcomes. ...