Measuring Labor Demand using Job Ads

Abstract

Using the largest digital job ads platform in Sweden, we construct a daily labor demand index based on millions of job ads. This daily index functions as a less expensive, high frequency complement to o cial survey data. To measure the precision of this index we compare it to o cial survey statistics and nd that it tracks labor demand. The granularity of the index enables disaggregation by region and occupation on a level of detail not found in conventional methods. It is also used to construct empirical Beveridge curves. This study contributes to a growing scienti c literature on using internet data to analyze the labor market.