A longer look at the Fed’s study of job search methods: the major findings

James D. Eubanks and David G. Wiczer of the St. Louis recently authored a study in the January 2014 ‘The Regional Economist’ St. Louis newsletter that looked at the impact different types of job search methods,such as networking and cold calling, have on the likelihood of obtaining employment.   The study is based on straightforward tabulations of data obtained from the U.S. BLS CPS data.  The authors performed multiple tabulations of the the job search type variable found in this data and then reported findings from various years and cross sections of the data.

Some of the results are surprising and a little counter-intuitive.  Some of the ‘counter-intutiveness’ may go away in a deeper analysis that controls for multiple factors.

Here are the key findings

  • Job seekers use more search methods during times of recession than during economic expansion
  • The different job search methods are all about equal in terms of success
  • Many job seekers use multiple methods, some are more likely to be used together than others