Job search and matching

Overview

How people search for and match to jobs reflects how well the labor market is functioning for both workers and employers. Frictions that inhibit effective, efficient searches and matches can lead to worse outcomes for both. New search technologies, including online platforms assisted by artificial intelligence, could improve search and matching but raise questions about their equity and effectiveness. And understanding how switching jobs and occupations affects workers’ career paths and economic trajectories is also critical to improving mobility.

Working Knowledge

Job search and matching February 06, 2024

Research Summary

The Digital Divide in Job Hunting

Socioeconomic factors and gaps in digital skills impact who uses social media to look for jobs. Older workers and low-income individuals are less likely to have the technological literacy or digital access to look for jobs online, while digital skills and use of social media across racial and ethnic groups are varied.

Annabel Stattelman Scanlan

February 06, 2024

Job search and matching December 19, 2023

Research Summary

Who Transitions from Dirty to Green Jobs?

The number of workers moving from carbon-intensive (“dirty”) to noncarbon-intensive (“green”) jobs is higher than ever before—yet remains low overall. Policymakers, practitioners, and researchers can help facilitate the green jobs transition and ensure that no worker is left behind.

Joe Peck

December 19, 2023

Job search and matching November 07, 2023

Research Summary

Better Job Matching is Better for Inflation

In this study, the authors examine workers who might be in jobs that don't match their skills and how their decisions to stay in a job or switch to a new one can impact inflation.

Joe Peck

November 07, 2023

Job search and matching October 23, 2023

Research Summary

When Governments Send Money, Do People Still Work?

Evidence from an unconditional cash transfer program suggests that when the government sends financial support to residents, it does not reduce overall employment.

Joe Peck

October 23, 2023

Research

Job search and matching Brief August 09, 2023

Search and Matching for Jobseekers

Each month, millions of workers in the United States move into or out of jobs. For workers in low-wage employment, transitions to new, higher-paying positions are an important driver of upward economic mobility. For those out of work, regaining…

Joe Peck , William J. Congdon

WorkRise Research

August 09, 2023

Job search and matching Report July 20, 2022

Search and Matching in Modern Labor Markets: A Landscape Report

This landscape report synthesizes research on how job seekers find work and how employers post and fill open positions in the labor market. It also explores frictions experienced by both parties and implications for workers’ economic mobility.

Alexander W. Bartik, Bryan A. Stuart

WorkRise Research

July 20, 2022

Job search and matching Executive Summary January 14, 2022

Rise with the STARs

New research from WorkRise grantee Opportunity@Work demonstrates the harm and exclusion workers without four-year degrees who are “skilled through alternative routes” (STARs) experience in the labor market.

Papia Debroy, Justin Heck

Grantee Research

January 14, 2022