The Effects of Social Networks on Job Hunting: Status Attainment and Safety Net.

Prior studies found that individuals' social networks provide opportunities for finding high-status jobs. However, people do not always look for new jobs only to attain a higher status. For example, in the case of people who need another job because they were laid off, social networks may play a role as a support resource when trying to escape unemployment. In this paper, I investigate the effects of social networks in providing such a safety net as well as networks that are instrumental in attaining higher-status jobs. I use data from "The Social Stratification and Social Mobility Survey in Japan, 2005"; moreover, in my analyses, I take into account the reasons for changing jobs. The results showed that social networks helped those who had involuntarily left their jobs to find new ones. These networks primarily consisted of family members rather than acquaintances. This suggests that at least in Japan, people's social networks are likely to serve as a safety net for escaping from unemployment rather than as an instrumental resource for finding high-status jobs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]