Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung

European Labour Market Barometer: Hope for an end to the downturn in Europe

Compared to the previous month, the European Labour Market Barometer rose by 1.1 points in February. Standing at 99.3 points, the leading indicator of the European Network of Public Employment Services and the Institute for Employment Research (IAB) thus no longer suggests a significant downturn of the European labour market in the coming months.

Press release

European Labour Market Barometer

The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic: evidence from a new establishment survey

The Covid-19 pandemic has so far had a sizeable impact on the German economy: gross national product fell by 5.3 percentage points in 2020 and by December, the number of unemployed had risen by approximately 480,000 compared to 2019. A new high-frequency survey conducted by the IAB since August 2020 sheds light on how establishments have adapted to the pandemic. Results show that the share of establishments that laid off workers has been limited. However, short-term work schemes are being used extensively as well as other personnel measures. Despite initial concerns, the vocational training system has remained robust.

The full article can be found in our Magazine IAB-Forum.

Click the following link for more articles in the series “COVID-19 Crisis: Consequences for the Labour Market"

Does Online Search Improve the Match Quality of New Hires?

This paper studies the effects of the high-speed internet expansion on the match quality of new hires. We combine data on internet availability at the local level with German individual register and vacancy data. Results show that internet availability has no major impact on the stability of new matches and their wages. We confirm these findings using vacancy data, by explicitly comparing match outcomes of online and non-online recruits. Further results show that online recruiting not only raises the number of applicants and the share of unsuitable candidates per vacancy, but also induces employers to post more vacancies.

IAB-Discussion Paper 2/2021

Professorship for Macroeconomics and Labor Market Research (Assistant Professor)

The Faculty of Business, Economics, and Law invites applications for a W1 Professorship for Macroeconomics and Labor Market Research (Assistant Professor). The professorship is to be filled by the earliest possible starting date for an initial period of three years. The position is to be filled as part of a joint call for applications made by the University in conjunction with the Institute for Employment Research (IAB) of the Federal Employment Agency.

All application details are available: FAU Careers: Professorship for Macroeconomics and Labor Market Research (Assistant Professor)

Strong demand and sound labour market integration

Citizens of the Western Balkan countries can take up employment in Germany due to the Western Balkans regulation without having to provide proof of adequate professional qualifications. So far, the regulation has been in high demand among both German companies and potential workers. We analyse the labour market integration of these employees, the experience of the employers and also the administrative implementation of the Regulation.

IAB-Kurzbericht (IAB Brief Report) 16/2020

Smoothing labour market transitions in times of crisis and beyond

During Germany’s EU Council Presidency in 2020, the Institute for Employment Research (IAB) hosted the interdisciplinary conference “Labour Market Transitions: Challenges for Public Policies and Research” from 7 to 9 September 2020. This conference focussed on labour market transitions and on the evaluation of policies that governments have implemented to smooth such transitions. In view of the COVID-19 pandemic, the IAB broke new grounds by choosing a hybrid conference format with keynote speakers and participants on site at the famous Meistersingerhalle in Nuremberg and online guests in the virtual conference world.

The article can be found in our Magazine IAB-Forum.

Matching for three: big data evidence on search activity of workers, firms, and employment Service

We generate measures for search intensity of employers and job seekers and – as a novel feature – for placement intensity of employment agencies. For this purpose, we tap big data on online activity from the job exchange of the German Federal Employment Agency and ist internal placement-software. We use these data to estimate an enhanced matching function where the efficiency parameter varies with the search and placement intensities. The results show that the intensity measures significantly contribute to the variation in job findings.

IAB-Discussion Paper 1/2021