Presentation by Alexandra Tasvetkova, Economist and Policy Analyst, OECD Trento Centre at the 8th Spatial Productivity Lab meeting of the OECE Trento Centre, held in virtual format on 7 May 2020. More info: https://oe.cd/SPL

1. Alexandra TSVETKOVA
Economist and Policy Analyst
OECD Trento Centre
Regional trends in labour demand across regions
Preliminary insights from on-line job postings

2. Evaluating labour market contraction with Burning Glass
(BG) data
• BG data set is built by scraping on-line
vacancy postings (English-speaking
countries)
• BG Labour Insights functionality
allows tracking data in almost real
time
• The data set includes for each job
posting:
‐ Title of a position
‐ Industry classification
‐ Occupation classification
‐ Required skills
‐ City of job location, TL2 or TL3 region
‐ Other information
Advantages:
• Big (29 million observations for US; 9 million
for UK; 1.2 million for Canada, etc.)
• Informative (detailed info on requirements
for job applicants that reflect employers’
needs)
• Up-to-date (delay of 2-3 days)
Disadvantages:
• Missing data
• Representativeness depends on the
likelihood to advertise jobs on-line (differs
across industries and possibly regions)
• Changes in data quality over time

3. Total weekly vacancies recorded in BG data, 2020
USA
-40% from 4 Jan
-50% from 22 Feb
Canada
-63% from 4 Jan
- 85% from 29 Feb
UK
-5% from 4 Jan
-61% from 25 Jan
Australia & NZ
-24% from 4 Jan
-56% from 22 Feb

4. Reduction in vacancy announcements (Jan – April 2020, %)
There is great variation in the hiring dynamics across regions, industries and occupations
• Large differences in regional effects across countries
• Regions in UK and Canada most heavily affected (43% and 49% reduction, respectively, in the
best performing regions)
• Diversified effects across regions, industries and occupations within countries (largest
differences in the industry-level effects)
Nevada Victoria
West Midlands
Quebec
New Hampshire Tasmania
North East
Ontario
-110
-90
-70
-50
-30
-10
10
United States Australia United
Kingdom
Canada
Regions
Max
Median
Min
Arts & Recreation
Services
Mining, Quarrying,
Oil & Gas
Accommodation &
Food Services
Arts,
Entertinment &
Recreation
Mining Wholesale
Trade
Human Health &
Social Work Public
Administration
-110
-90
-70
-50
-30
-10
10
Australia Canada United
Kingdom
United States
Industries
Personal Services
Personal Services
Sales
Costumer
Support
Science & Research Agriculture,
Horticulture, Outdoors
Health Care Law, Compliance &
Public Safety
-110
-90
-70
-50
-30
-10
10
Australia United States United
Kingdom
Canada
Occupations

5. Reduction in vacancy announcements by region
(Jan – April 2020, %)
Capital and larger (more diversified) regions are not necessarily the
least affected
• Canada: Ontario enjoyed the smallest reduction (-43%)
• UK: Greater London the 3rd most hit region (-61%)
• Australia: ACT is in the 2nd place (-12%)
-70
-60
-50
-40
-30
-20
-10
0
Canada
-70
-60
-50
-40
-30
-20
-10
0
Australia
-70
-60
-50
-40
-30
-20
-10
0
UK

6. In the US, differences across states > 40pp
• Outside of New Hampshire (-4%), the decline in on-line job postings ranges from -16% to -46%
• Above median decline in Washington, New York and California, states hit first and hardest
-70
-60
-50
-40
-30
-20
-10
0
US
Reduction in vacancy announcements by region
(Jan – April 2020, %)

7. Reduction in vacancy announcements in USA (Jan – April 2020, %)
There is pronounced regional variation in the hiring dynamics within industries
• Public Administration: from +69% (Oregon) to -62% (Vermont)
• Arts, Entertainment & Recreation: from -14% (Alaska) to -98% (Maine)
-120
-100
-80
-60
-40
-20
0
20
40
60
80 Arts, Entertainment & Recreation Public Administration

8. Reduction in vacancy announcements (Jan – April 2020, %)
The magnitude of regional
differences varies across
industries
Wholesale Trade: from -11% (Ontario) to -
71% (British Columbia)
Mining: from -57% (Ontario) to -82%
(Alberta)
Mining: from +25% (Queensland) to
-80% (ACT)
Arts: from -17% (South Australia) to
-99% (Western Australia)
-120
-100
-80
-60
-40
-20
0
20
40
Queensland Western
Australia
South
Australia
Victoria New South
Wales
Tasmania Australian
Capital
Territory
Australia
Arts & Recreation Services Mining
-90
-80
-70
-60
-50
-40
-30
-20
-10
0
Ontario Quebec Alberta Saskatchewan British
Columbia
Canada
Mining, Quarrying, Oil & Gas Wholesale Trade

9. Reduction in vacancy announcements in UK (Jan – April 2020, %)
Regional variations within industries are
greater at a finer geographical scale
Human Health: from +2% (North East) to -29%
(Greater London)
Accommodation and Food: from -82% (North
West) to -88% (Greater London)-100
-90
-80
-70
-60
-50
-40
-30
-20
-10
0
10
North East North
West
South
East
Yorkshire
and The
Humber
East of
England
South
West
East
Midlands
West
Midlands
Greater
London
Accommodation and Food Services Human Health and Social Work
-120
-100
-80
-60
-40
-20
0
20
40 Accommodation and Food Services Human Health and Social Work
Human Health: from +30% (Tees
Valley) to -29% (London)
Accommodation and Food: from
-60% (Stoke-on-Trent and
Staffordshire) to -96% (Cornwall
and the Isles of Scilly)

10. Spatial Productivity Lab
OECD Trento Centre for Local Development
https://oe.cd/SPL
THANK YOU!