Die IAB-Erhebung des gesamtwirtschaftlichen Stellenangebots – Inhalte, Daten und Methoden

This article introduces the German job vacancy survey (EGS). Its data are valuable because employers' recruitment processes and decisions are little-noticed through the empirical literature on matching processes on the labour market. This is due to the fact that administrative data on job openings do not cover the total number, neither in their structure nor in their extend. Furthermore, beside the EGS there are no such regular, representative and comprehensive surveys concerning the recruiting processes in Germany or elsewhere. Those processes can be analysed in detail, such as recruiting processes that were cancelled. The number and structure of open positions are published quarterly and the EGS is the only source for such information in Germany. The time series of the manifold data mostly go back to the early 90ies and can therefore contribute crucially to the expansion of macroeconomic labour market research. This is accelerated by the release of the data: From the year 2011 onwards, the waves of the survey will be opened to external scientists one after another by the Research Data Centre of the Federal Employment Agency at the Institute for Employment Research.