We all know intuitively that #connections between people fuel creativity, innovation, and economic growth. In a just-released study,”Connections as a Tool for Growth: Evidence from the #linkedin Economic Graph,” I find new evidence that a higher density of interpersonal connections in a region is strongly associated with faster job growth in that region. Drawing on data from LinkedIn, who sponsored the study, the analysis finds that most-connected metro regions had more than double the job growth of the least-connected metro areas. The top quintile of metro areas, ranked by their index of connectedness, had an average job growth of 8.2 percent in the four years from 2010 to 2014. The bottom quintile of metro areas, ranked by their index of connectedness, had an average job growth of only 3.5 percent.
This link between connections and job growth has some profound policy consequences. Below I’ve inserted the executive summary from the paper. The full paper can be found
Despite the improving economy, deep structural problems persist in the U.S., Europe, and around the world. Economists have estimated that the U.S. needs more than 5 million additional jobs—the so-called “jobs gap”—to return to pre-recession employment levels plus absorbing new labor market entrants. In Europe, the number of unemployed workers is 60 percent higher than before the recession. The global economy suffers from a huge deadweight loss, as talented people all too often struggle to connect with good ideas and promising opportunities.
Curated from www.linkedin.com
