finding work in the labor market

background

Research into how job seekers search for and find a job, on the one hand, and how companies search for workers and find them, on the other, is relevant for many reasons. In a previous study, this research was explained in detail. The most important reason, of course, is that we can only call a job a job if it is actually filled. One way or another, supply and demand must find each other. We now know that this is anything but self-evident. There is always, to a greater or lesser extent, a mismatch in the labor market. This mismatch can have a variety of very different causes, including a discrepancy between the search and find channels of supply and demand. Given its importance, it remains surprising that relatively little systematic research has been done into the use of different search and find channels on the labor market. Two years ago, we filled this gap (Randstad Research, 2019). The study you are now reading is a partial update. At any rate, the following key issues were brought to the fore in the 2019 study.

research findings in 2019

The most popular search channel by far, worldwide, are job portals. No less than 59% of respondents indicated that they have searched for work through this channel. Women appear to search for work through this channel significantly more than men (64% and 54%, respectively). We see no differences according to age.

Job portals aren‘t just the most popular search channel, it is also through this channel that most jobs by far are found (38%). This preponderance is true for all subcategories: men/women, age and qualifications. The less qualified and 55+ groups find work a little less often through this channel, but for them too, job portals were the most popular way to find work in 2019.

Next to job portals, Google, LinkedIn and social media also play an important role in the allocation process on the job market. Google achieves the highest score (17%), followed by LinkedIn (13%), Facebook (11%) and Twitter (5%). There is an age, gender and qualifications effect for all these channels. 

Without exception, men always find more work than women using these channels. Age also plays a clear role (with LinkedIn as an exception). The 55+ group finds less work using these channels than the younger categories do. There is no disintermediation going on in the labor market. The impact of the public and private employment services (recruitment and staffing), 12% and 17 and 20% respectively, remains very high. In terms of market share, private employment services are more important than public employment services.

You can download and read the full 2021 report 'finding work in the labor market'.