Question: Is it easier to get a job if you are employed or unemployed?
Answer: I could not find any official statistics comparing unemployed hiring and employed hiring rates. However, the unemployment rate has decreased in recent years. Unemployment has decreased by 1.8% from 2003 to 2006 according to a report by the Department of Labor. A possible reason for this could be that the unemployed are favored in the hiring process, but there were no statistics regarding employed people switching jobs, so the above would be an assumption based on imperfect knowledge.
Process: I searched for statistics and information on the Department of Labor website as well as other independent news sites. I also emailed the Department of Labor:
Dear Department of Labor,
My name is Lauren Jung, and I am currently studying business at Stanford University's summer EPGY program. My professor has assigned me to find out is it easier to get a job if you are employed or unemployed. Are there any studies or statistics that would be able to shed some light on this issue? Are there any statistics that compare the national hiring rates of people who are unemployed versus those who are working for the same job opportunity? I can be reached at this email lrnjung@gmail.com or at my cell xxx.xxx.xxxx
Thank you,
Lauren Jung
I received the following emails in response to my inquiry:
Hello Lauren,
Your inquiry is being forwarded to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' National Labor Force Statistics program for assistance. For future reference, you may contact this program directly at cpsinfo@bls.gov.
Sincerely,
Wanda Sockwell
Division of Information Services
Office of Publications and Special Studies
Bureau of Labor Statistics
Wanda Sockwell
Division of Information Services
Office of Publications and Special Studies
Bureau of Labor Statistics
>
I then received this second response:
Dear Lauren,
Your request was forwarded to the Division of Labor Force Statistics for a response. Ideally, I would like to be able to provide you with official statistics that answer your questions. Alternatively, I can only provide you with research-oriented information, since the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) does not have official measures that address your request.
In late-2007, the BLS released seasonally adjusted labor force status flow estimates from the Current Population Survey (CPS), a monthly sample survey of approximately 60,000 households. These estimates, which begin in 1990, use month to month changes in the employment status of individuals to estimate the population-level changes in labor force status between being employed, unemployed, or out of the labor force. You can access the documentation, description, and historical series for these data at
Suffice to say, we have used these data a number of times in analyses to explain changes in employment and unemployment. The most recent paper was published just a couple weeks ago.
You should find Chart 1 useful in determining the share of the unemployed in one month who become employed in the following month. That share has ranged roughly between 25 to 35 percent for the time period that the data are available. I have attached an excel file that provides the series history depicted in Chart 1.
Estimates of employer-to-employer flows, however, were never developed in the methodological approach to the labor force status flow series. Thus, BLS has done little research in that area. I can, however, offer a research paper that was produced by the Federal Reserve that undertakes to estimate the share of employment each month that comes from so-called employer-to-employer flows. This is a work-in-progress paper that is currently being considered for publication in the Monthly Labor Review at BLS.
Estimates of employer-to-employer flows, however, were never developed in the methodological approach to the labor force status flow series. Thus, BLS has done little research in that area. I can, however, offer a research paper that was produced by the Federal Reserve that undertakes to estimate the share of employment each month that comes from so-called employer-to-employer flows. This is a work-in-progress paper that is currently being considered for publication in the Monthly Labor Review at BLS.
I hope you find this information useful. If you have other questions pertaining to the CPS labor force status flows, feel free to contact me.
Regards,
Randy E. Ilg
Economist
Bureau of Labor Statistics
(202)--691-5456
Sources: http://www.bls.gov/cps/, http://www.dol.gov/
Sources: http://www.bls.gov/cps/, http://www.dol.gov/
