Using The Internet May Harm, Not Help, People Find A Job

[Township75]

The punch line is everyone thinks the Internet is a great new way to help people find a job. But it really is not," said Fountain, who used a sample of monthly U.S. Census Bureau and Bureau of Labor Statistics data of 50,000 American households to track two groups of unemployed workers. Supplemental surveys by the bureau collected information on computer ownership and usage, access to and usage of the Internet and the methods people used to find jobs.

The differences between people who used the Internet as part of their job search strategy and those who didn't were small, but statistically significant among a sample of more than 650 people who were unemployed and looking for work, according to Fountain. In the first group who reported being unemployed in August 1998, those who utilized the Internet were 3 percent more likely to have found a job within three months than those who did not use it.

However, among the second group who reported being out of work in December 2000, those individuals who used the Internet were 4 percent less likely to have found a job in three months than non-users.


full story is here
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2003/08/030814071955.htm