On‐the‐Job Search and the Public Employment Service

In recent years there has been an expansion of research into the operation of the UK labour market. Under the pressure of economic conditions and in light of theoretical developments much of this research has concentrated on the behaviour of unemployed workers, and in particular their job search. In contrast, little research has been conducted into search by employed workers. In part this reflects the paucity of available data but also the limitations of early search‐based models of labour market behaviour. In this study the development of on‐the‐job search models (hereafter OJS) is examined and an empirical investigation reported, using data collected by local offices of the Employment Services Division (hereafter ESD) of the Manpower Services Commission.