Fishing in different pools: Job-search strategies and job-finding success in Canada in the early 1980s

Abstract

The job-search methods of jobless workers are examined in an analysis that emphasizes sample selectivity in choice of job-search strategies, especially the use of public employment agencies. Longitudinal data from the Labor Force Survey of Canada for 1981, 1983, and 1986 indicate that job-search methods change with the business cycle and that many people find jobs without any reported search. The determinants of job-search success also vary substantially over the business cycle, implying a substantial social return to public employment agencies at the 1983 trough of the recession but no noticeable benefits when aggregate unemployment is relatively low. The analysis also shows that the expected weekly value of unemployment insurance benefits has no statistically significant association with job-finding success. A consistent finding for men and women in 1983 and 1986 is negative duration dependence among the short-term jobless but no statistically significant impact on unemployment among the long-term jobless.