published in: American Economic Review, 2004, 94 (1), 218-232
After decades of stability, the technologies used by workers to locate new jobs began to
change rapidly with the diffusion of internet access in the late 1990’s. Which types of persons
incorporated the internet into their job search strategy, and did searching for work on line
help these workers find new jobs faster? We address these questions using measures of
internet job search derived from the December 1998 and August 2000 CPS Computer and
Internet Supplements, matched with job search outcomes from subsequent CPS files. We
find that internet searchers are positively selected on observables, but negatively selected on
unobservables. A beneficial (unemployment-duration reducing) causal effect of internet job
search is consistent with our estimates only if negative selection on unobservables is
especially strong, in other words only if the population of on-line resumes is strongly
adversely selected.
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