US search engine data suggest increase in employee benefits
As the labor market tightens and wage growth remains sluggish, internet search data suggest that US employers are increasingly using benefits as a way of attracting job applicants.
Data from the recruitment search engine Indeed show that job postings that include the word “bonus” have more than doubled from 7% in January 2014 to 15% in September 2015.
There was also a significant increase in references to 401(k), the US retirement savings scheme, as well as insurance and health care.
The increased use of benefits to attract jobseekers appears to reflect a shift among US employers to offer perks rather than higher wages. The Wall Street Journal reports that average hourly wages have grown by 2% a year since 2009, while benefits have increased by 15%.
The use of online search data to detect economic trends is the subject of a new IZA World of Labor article by Nikolaos Askitas, published today. The article describes search activity data as “an unconventional survey full of unbiased, revealed answers in need of the right question.”
In his article, Askitas writes: “Google search activity data express the demand for information by topic from internet users around the world, so they contain insights into a large part of the human condition. The data are suitable for multidisciplinary research on individual behavior. They will become an indispensable part of modern policy making, especially in times of crisis.”
Read more on this story at Fortune.
Related articles:
Google search activity data and breaking trends by Nikolaos Askitas
The internet as a labor market matchmaker by Peter J. Kuhn
Find more IZA World of Labor articles about data