Job Search

INTERNET HELPS 25 MILLION ADULTS LOOK FOR JOBS, BLS REPORTS

by David Altstadt

Copyright © 2005 by MII Publications Inc.

Reprinted with permission from the Employment & Training Reporter, Vol. 37 No. 2, September 5, 2005, p. 26

More than 1 in 10 adults surveyed search for jobs on the Internet, mostly by browsing online ads and researching potential employers, reported the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Between January and October 2003, about 25.5 million individuals, or 11.5 percent of the civilian population over the age of 16, reported going online to find work, according to BLS. The rate of individuals looking for jobs on the Internet has increased 2.3 percentage points since 2001.

BLS economists attributed the hike in online job search activity to more prevalent Internet use and higher numbers of unemployed looking for jobs. The jobless rate ticked up 1.0 point between September 2001 and October 2003, to 6.0 percent.

The findings are part of a special supplement to the October 2003 Current Population Survey, in which the Census Bureau asked respondents about their computer habits at work as well as whether they had used the Internet at any location to search for a job in the last nine months. The Census Bureau posed the job search question to respondents for the first time in the September 2001 survey.

In a report on the 2003 CPS data released in August, BLS found that more than 90 percent of Internet jobseekers read online job listings and 70 percent looked up information on companies. Fewer workers, however, applied for job openings on the Internet: 57 percent submitted a job application to an employer via the Internet and 41 percent posted their resume on a job listing site.

Internet jobseekers holding different demographic characteristics and occupations generally searched for jobs online in the same ways, BLS found. However, respondents´ age, level of education and occupation played a significant role in whether they searched for jobs online at all.

Internet searches were less common among older respondents. Around 20 percent of 20- to 34-year-olds looked for work online, followed by 14 percent of 35- to 44-year-olds, 10 percent of 45- to 54-year-olds, 5.7 percent of 55- to 64-year-olds and 0.8 percent of those 65 and over. In addition, just over 9 percent of older teenagers used the Internet to search for jobs.

Individuals with more years of schooling were much more likely than those with shorter schooling to conduct online job searches. Participation rates ranged from 17.6 percent among college graduates to 2.2 percent for jobseekers lacking a high school diploma. More than 13 percent of respondents with some college education had searched for jobs online as well as 6.5 percent of high school graduates.

BLS also looked at the Internet activity of respondents tied to the labor market, including unemployed workers. Nearly 22 million, or 14.9 percent of the labor force, searched for jobs online in 2003.

White-collar workers reported higher rates of Internet job searches than those who worked in service-sector, farming and blue-collar occupations, BLS reported.

Nearly 20 percent of individuals in management and professional work searched for jobs online, followed by 17.2 percent of salespersons and office workers, 11 percent of service employees, 9.2 percent of production, transportation and material moving workers and 8.6 percent of respondents in natural resources, construction and maintenance.

The lowest rate of Internet activity was reported by those in farming, fishing and forestry, at 4.4 percent.

Copyright © 2005 by MII Publications Inc.