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



respondents, all of whom remained registered as unemployed at the last time of contact.
A range of factors may have impacted on the outcomes eventually experienced by these
job seekers, including their own ‘employability assets’ and the attitudes and recruitment
methods of employers (Adams et al., 2000, 2002; McQuaid and Lindsay, 2002).
Accordingly, the below analysis merely seeks to examine the use of informal social
networks, Internet services and other job search methods from the viewpoint of the
unemployed job seeker (as well as discussing job seekers’ attitudes to using ICT). The
extent to which the Internet can play an important role in delivering services for the
unemployed, and facilitating the extension of social networks, will depend upon the
current approach to job seeking adopted by individuals and their willingness to
incorporate technology-assisted activities into their current behaviour. However, it
should also be noted that many amongst the unemployed are likely to face considerable
barriers to accessing and using ICT. For these people the ‘digital divide’ or ‘technology
gap’ may as yet seem unbridgeable.

ICT, the digital divide and the ‘rural technology gap’

Servon and Nelson (2001) note the importance of access to community-based ICT
facilities in addressing the ‘urban technology gap’ experienced by individuals living in
disadvantaged areas in American cities. The same access problems are faced by many
people in rural labour markets. However, just as Servon and Nelson acknowledge the
failure of urban initiatives that have been ‘parachuted in’, with few support services to
assist communities and individuals, the ‘rural technology gap’ has similarly survived large-
scale infrastructure investment projects in many countries and areas, including the
Highlands of Scotland (Black et al., 1996; Gillespie et al., 2001).



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