Online job ads: promising yet biased data for employment and education policy

Online job ads are a promising source of data for labour market analysis. They provide detailed and immediate information for policymakers. This information can help design better education and employment policies for people to develop the right skills to find a job.

But their biases call their generalisability into question, according to a recent JRC study. Employers are more likely to post online job ads for highly skilled profiles. They also request more formal, standardised and socially desirable skills than really needed.

Confronting online job ads with the reality on the ground

Employers are more likely to post vacancies online for highly skilled occupations than for elementary positions. For instance, the chances of a vacancy being published online is hundreds of times larger for managers, directors or professionals than for plant and machine operatives.

Online job ads also tend to include more advanced, formal and standardised digital skills than the actual needs.

To reach these conclusions, JRC scientists dug into a 2012-2020 dataset of 60 million online job ads. They used big data analytics to summarise this data. They then compared it with labour market statistics and with survey data.

Online job ads may also overemphasise the importance of soft skills and socially desirable skills. In another study, JRC scientists conducted qualitative interviews with HR professionals about skills requirement. Results show that soft skills tend to be ‘ritualistically’ included in job ads, despite being vague and ill-defined. In contrast, equally relevant but unattractive job attributes (such as routineness or standardisation) are less likely to be included in job ads.

Implications for employment and education policies

Shaping suitable employment and education policies requires understanding employers’ skills demands. The changing nature of the economy, with digitalisation and energy transition at the forefront, make this need even more acute. 

The European Skills Agenda includes an action to strengthen skills intelligence, which can in turn inform the education-focused initiatives under the European Social Fund Plus and the Recovery and Resilience Facility. 

JRC research shows the potential and limitations of relying on data from online job ads to develop skills needs intelligence. JRC scientists claim for a combination with traditional surveys and administrative data.

Related links

Skewed signals? Confronting biases in Online Job Ads data

The Professional Lens: What Online Job Advertisements Can Say About Occupational Task Profiles

Job descriptions, from conception to recruitment: A qualitative review of hiring processes

Digital skills for all? From computer literacy to AI skills in online job advertisements