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

It is questionable whether the minority of Sutherland clients without ready access to a
telephone, who are required to ‘phone in’ from others’ residences or public telephone
kiosks would agree (Lindsay et al., 2001).

INSERT TABLE 5 ABOUT HERE

While area-based factors may account for some of the differences in ICT access and
usage, it is likely that other, personal barriers will have limited the ability of some job
seekers to take up ICT-based services. As Table 5 illustrates, long-term unemployed
people in all areas were rather less likely to have Internet or telephone access at home. It
would appear that this in turn reflects a combination of financial and skills barriers faced
by the more disadvantaged. Whereas only 15% of those job seekers reporting a total
household income of less than £150 per week (approximately EUR236) had access to the
Internet at home, the figure for all other respondents was 43%. Similarly, only 15% of
those in the lower income bracket used the Internet to look for work on a weekly basis,
compared to 27% of those with a weekly income above £150.

Those with limited skills were similarly disadvantaged in terms of accessing the
Internet. As Table 6 shows, those qualified to the general level of ‘SCE Higher Grade or
equivalent’ were more than three times more likely to have home Internet access than
those with no qualifications (37%-12%). Higher qualified job seekers were also much
more likely to use the Internet to look for work on a weekly basis (34%-8%).

INSERT TABLE 6 ABOUT HERE

Another considerable concern for policy makers must lie in the admission of many job
seekers, across all income and skill groups, that they lack confidence in using basic ICT.
When asked to rate their own attainment across a range of areas, the vast majority of
respondents described their skills as ‘good or adequate’. Clearly, in some cases this will

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