Delivering job search services in rural labour markets: the role of ICT

variation between the town-based Wick TTWA, where Jobcentre facilities are available
(9%), and the more remote settlements of Sutherland (28%). Although Sutherland job
seekers were generally slightly more highly qualified than their Wick counterparts, a
characteristic that may have some impact on Internet access (see below), it would appear
that ‘location matters’ in determining ICT use in remote rural areas.

A closer examination of the methods used by respondents to successfully identify
opportunities reveals the still marginal role of the Internet as a job search tool. Table 4
shows a fairly even spread of search methods used by unemployed people to identify ‘the
last job that they applied for’. Once again, formal Jobcentre services appear more
important in the centrally-located West Lothian labour market, with informal methods
playing a greater role in Wick and Sutherland. Once again, within the Wick and
Sutherland labour markets, differences in job seeker behaviour between the two TTWAs
were apparent. The more remote Sutherland job seekers were more likely to have relied
upon informal methods (50% compared to 36% of Wick TTWA respondents), while
those from the Wick TTWA were much more likely to have used Jobcentre staff (16%
compared to 9%) and information facilities (21% compared to 4%) to identify their most
recent job opportunity.

Perhaps more importantly, although job seeking via the Internet appeared to be a
regular activity for almost one-fifth of job seekers, very few had recently found success is
identifying an appropriate vacancy on-line. Only two respondents (1% of the sample)
from Wick and Sutherland had accessed Internet job search sites. No West Lothian-
based respondents had used the Internet to identify their most recently pursued job. For
many unemployed people, ICT remained of little or no value in their job search.

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