LiveCareer partnered with Qualtrics to investigate the effects of the adaptability of U.S. job seekers unemployed due to the coronavirus pandemic to the contemporaneous U.S. job market. Specifically, the study sought to determine whether such displaced workers understood the concept of transferable skills sufficiently so as to conduct job search activities likely to lead to timely reemployment.
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Quantitative data was obtained by administration of a survey to a sample of 1,519 U.S. job seekers unemployed due to COVID-19, using Qualtrics Research Services Online Panel. Qualtrics handled all participant recruitment and data collection operations, while the survey instrument and broader research program were developed by LiveCareer's research team, who additionally performed all data analysis.
LiveCareer remained anonymous to all recruited and treated respondents, and was not identifiable by any visible recruitment, survey instrument or platform administration elements.
The survey instrument was designed to measure respondent competencies relating to transferable skills, including (1) declarative knowledge of transferable skills, (2) self-confidence in performing job search tasks which require proficiency in characterizing transferable skills, (3) aptitude for effectiveness in performing job search activities requiring proficiency in characterizing transferable skills, and (4) job search outcome expectations.
The survey was administered entirely online, denoting that all respondents had access to either desktop or mobile computing devices, and an internet connection. All solicitations for participation, along with survey instructions, prompts and items were delivered using the English language. All respondents were U.S. residents attached to the U.S. labor market.
Data collection occurred over a period of five days, May 6–May 11, 2020. During the survey administration, a total population of 36,492,000 U.S. workers had already filed jobless claims between March 21 and May 9 due to the economic collapse caused by COVID-19.
The sample collected (n = 1,519) is representative of the U.S. labor force according to known distributions of gender, geographical region and age group, as reported by the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. At a 95% confidence level, the margin of error is +/- 2.5%.
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