Do digital information technologies help unemployed job seekers find a job?

Published: 12 December 2018

Author: Nicole Gürtzgen, And André Diegmann (né Nolte), And Laura Pohlan, And Gerard J. van den Berg, And

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 German individual register data. We address endogeneity by exploiting technological peculiarities that affected the roll-out of high-speed internet. The results show that highspeed internet improves reemployment rates after the first months in unemployment. This is confirmed by complementary analyses with individual survey data suggesting that internet access increases online job search and the number of job interviews after a few months in unemployment.