Coresignal and the University of Pennsylvania partner to analyze the Great Labor Shortage

Leading public web data provider Coresignal announces a data sponsorship agreement with the University of Pennsylvania. Coresignal will provide public web data supporting research on the effects of the so-called Great Labor Shortage in post-pandemic time.

What is the Great Labor Shortage?

The research focuses on the unusual labor market situation observed after the global pandemic.

Labor shortage in 2021 was attributed to recovery after the pandemic, but the workforce participation rate remains below pre-pandemic levels this year as well. Unlike previous employment troughs that struggle with high unemployment rates, the post-pandemic labor market is characterized by a skyrocketing vacancy rate—out of 100 jobs, 7 are vacant.

Experts worry that this might not be a short-term issue but something that will significantly affect the labor market in the upcoming years.

“This project aims to provide empirical facts to help understand the labor shortage and discuss evidence-based solutions. Coresignal’s data provides an opportunity for such an investigation from both perspectives of the demand and supply sides of the labor market,” says Xincheng Qiu, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Pennsylvania who is responsible for this project.

Using public web data for analyzing labor shortage

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania will look into how employees and employers respond to this unprecedented situation using 53 million public web data records of job postings and company reviews provided by Coresignal.

Job posting data will help understand which locations, industries, and occupations are hit the hardest by the labor shortage. The descriptions of job postings allow researchers to analyze how employers adjust their recruiting practices in response to such hiring challenges.

Public web data on company reviews will be leveraged to examine employees’ motivations and reasons behind the “Great Resignation.” Reviews contain unique and complementary information from the workers’ perspectives.

Together these two datasets offer a comprehensive picture of the labor market and the mismatch between labor demand and supply, based on which the project will build a quantitative theory.

“Data is key to answering troubling questions about labor market challenges. Using millions of continuously updated public employee and company profiles, we can look into what is happening in the labor market, generate valuable insights, and find solutions.

Here at Coresignal, we believe that it is our responsibility to support a research project that will help us better understand the long-term post-pandemic challenges for businesses and employees,” says Karolis Didziulis, Coresignal’s Product Manager.

The University of Pennsylvania expects to publish the research results in 2023.

About Coresignal

Coresignal is a leading public business data provider in the alternative data sphere with an extensive focus on firmographics and profiles of professionals. With an offering of 713M professional profiles and 101M company records, businesses are guaranteed to find the data to achieve their goals. Coresignal is exceptional in terms of data freshness with 419M records updated monthly for unprecedented accuracy and relevance.

About the University of Pennsylvania

The University of Pennsylvania, founded in 1740, is an Ivy League institution with a distinctive past. Its 12 undergraduate, graduate and professional schools are located in Philadelphia on an attractive urban campus that serves a diverse community of more than 20,000 students from throughout the nation and around the world. Ranked consistently among the top universities in the nation, Penn has a longstanding reputation for excellence in graduate and professional education.