Which Occupations Do Unemployed Workers Target? Insights from Online Job Search Profiles

Steffen Altmann, Robert Mahlstedt (), Malte Jacob Rattenborg () and Alexander Sebald ()
Additional contact information
Robert Mahlstedt: University of Copenhagen
Malte Jacob Rattenborg: University of Copenhagen
Alexander Sebald: Copenhagen Business School

No 16696, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: Our study investigates the occupational job search strategies of more than 60,000 unemployed workers in Denmark. We find substantial heterogeneity in how job seekers allocate their search activities across dierent occupations, and this heterogeneity persists throughout the duration of their unemployment spell. Notably, a considerable proportion of unemployed workers (approximately 30%) search in occupations where they lack relevant experiences. Those aiming for jobs unrelated to their prior experience tend to exhibit the lowest levels of employment and earnings, despite the fact that they target occupations with generally favorable conditions.

Keywords: job search; unemployment; occupational mobility; job finding (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D83 J24 J62 J64 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 26 pages
Date: 2023-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eur and nep-lab
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://docs.iza.org/dp16696.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:iza:izadps:dp16696

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
IZA, Margard Ody, P.O. Box 7240, D-53072 Bonn, Germany

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA) IZA, P.O. Box 7240, D-53072 Bonn, Germany. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Holger Hinte ().