Long-term unemployed applicants from a firm's perspective: Reliability is more important than formal qualifications

Abstract

"Currently the labor market situation in Germany is very good and the number of vacancies is higher than ever. Nevertheless a yearly average of 2.3 million unemployed is expected, 850,000 with an unemployment duration of 12 months or more. Using data of the IAB Job Vacancy Survey we analyse the job opportunities of long-term unemployed applicants from a firm's perspective: Do they have a chance of being considered in the application process? What are the relevant personal characteristics for the selection of employees and how can the prospects of long-term unemployed applicants be improved? Our results show that 44 percent of establishments in Germany are generally willing to consider applications from long-term unemployed workers. The most important factor for hiring a long-term unemployed person is how a firm assesses the reliability of the candidate. Motivation and formal qualifications rank only second and third from a firm's perspective." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Cite article

Rebien, M. & Rothe, T. (2018): Langzeitarbeitslose Bewerber aus betrieblicher Perspektive: Zuverlässigkeit ist wichtiger als fachliche Qualifikation. (IAB-Kurzbericht 12/2018), Nürnberg, 8 p.