The Impact of Employment Web Sites' Traffic on Unemployment: A Cross Country Comparison

TL;DR

This study investigates the correlation between employment web site traffic and unemployment rates across 32 countries, revealing a strong relationship and providing insights into how online recruitment activity relates to economic conditions.

Contribution

It offers a cross-country analysis of employment web site traffic and unemployment rates, highlighting the correlation between online recruitment activity and unemployment levels.

Findings

Strong correlation between web site traffic and unemployment rates

Traffic changes reflect unemployment rate fluctuations

Cross-country comparison reveals consistent patterns

Abstract

Although employment web sites have recently become the main source for re- cruitment and selection process, the relation between those sites and unemploy- ment rates is seldom addressed. Deriving data from 32 countries and 427 web sites, this study explores the correlation between unemployment rates of European countries and the attractiveness of country specific employment web sites. It also compares the changes in unemployment rates and traffic on all the aforementioned web sites. The results showed that there is a strong correlation between web sites traffic and unemployment rates.