Digital divides in online job search: Insights from Europe

Abstract In a world where everything is increasingly digitalized, and many services are accessed online, including employment opportunities, digital skills have become increasingly important. However, recent technological developments and the uneven distribution of access and skills have deepened existing social inequalities and made the existence of digital divides across age, education, income, and other socio-demographic lines blatant. In this context, this article has analyzed the digital divide in online job searching behavior, focusing on factors that can influence internet job searching in Europe. For this endeavor, we used data from the last wave of the European Quality of Life Survey (2016) and employed binary logistic regression models. We have used both country-level indicators and individual socio-demographic factors. The findings indicate that country-level technological development positively impacts the subjective probability of finding a job using the Internet, while Internet use at the individual level also positively influences this probability. Furthermore, the analysis of socio-demographic characteristics reveals the presence of a digital divide.