Digital skill gaps limit access to employment for unemployed and low-income individuals. These gaps reduce the ability to navigate online job boards and apply for jobs. In 2014, unemployed individuals who searched for jobs online were re-employed approximately 25% faster than those who did not (Kuhn and Mansour, 2014). Today, many do not even have a choice as to whether to use internet job search, even if they are not skilled at it. This underscores the disadvantage faced by those lacking digital skills.
‍

‍The WIOA program provides funding to support job search. The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) Adult Program serves high-risk populations in finding employment. In Program Year (PY) 2023, the Adult Program provided career services to over 277,000 participants, including through the use of computer labs and online tools (U.S. Department of Labor, 2023). The average spend per participant for career services was $1,597 (U.S. Department of Labor, 2023). American Job Centers, a core part of the WIOA system, provide no-cost access to computers, internet, printers, and related resources. They are a key location for the vulnerable and unemployed to apply for jobs.

‍Several states have shown evidence of willingness to invest in using digital tools to improve their programs. Ohio implemented the Helping Ohioans Pursue Employment (HOPE) Program, which emails unemployment applicants extensive information about free in-person and self-service online employment services via OhioMeansJobs.com (U.S. Department of Labor, 2025). Pennsylvania disbursed digital literacy grants, including $1.5 mn to support local programs providing computer-skills training and assistance in navigating technology platforms (U.S. Department of Labor, 2025). South Dakota added an integrated texting feature that allows staff to initiate and carry on communication with participants via text (U.S. Department of Labor, 2025). Their software captures and archives text conversations, which staff may copy to case notes as appropriate, making client communication and documentation more efficient (U.S. Department of Labor, 2025). California is using Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud platform to securely store data (U.S. Department of Labor, 2025). 

‍Several states are conducting randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on the Reemployment Services and Eligibility Assessment (RESEA) program, with digital literacy in mind. Montana, in partnership with the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, is evaluating their RESEA program’s impact (U.S. Department of Labor, 2025). Findings from Montana’s RCT are providing insights into the broader application of virtual tools across its programs (U.S. Department of Labor, 2025).  Montana has stated that it hopes that the RCT’s results can identify barriers such as limited internet access and low computer literacy that may hinder the adoption of online services (U.S. Department of Labor, 2025). Nevada and New Jersey have also implemented RCTs (U.S. Department of Labor, 2025).  In New Jersey’s trial, the intervention involved using SMS text notifications to encourage participation in RESEA activities (U.S. Department of Labor, 2025). Based on the results, New Jersey will consider whether to continue or expand the text messaging intervention (U.S. Department of Labor, 2025). 

‍Barriers to employment include low income, computer access, and digital literacy. The percentage of WIOA Title I participants with a barrier to employment increased in PY 2023 (U.S. Department of Labor, 2024). Specifically, in the Adult Program, which had a total of 278,770 participants in PY 2023, 68% of participants reported a low-income barrier, and 22% reported having English as a second language as a barrier (U.S. Department of Labor, 2024).Digital literacy is hard to measure, but in 2012, 13% of the unemployed and 30% of those not in the labor force were classified as digitally illiterate (Mamedova, Pawlowski, & Hudson, 2018). New PIAAC tests of “adaptive problem solving,” which include solving problems in high-technology environments, show that 59% of those who had not completed high school performed at Level 1 or below (that is—performed poorly) (U.S. Department of Education, 2024).The most recent Census data show that there still exists a gap, especially among low-income individuals, in home internet and computer usage. Among households with low income (<$25,000 annually), 76% had a smartphone, but only 56% had a computer (Mejía, 2024). Similar figures are present for those with less than a high school education and those with only a high school education (Mejía, 2024).

‍Job search success can be improved. Several nudges can substantially increase job search success. A large-scale field experiment in Germany found that offering a simple brochure on job search strategies increased earnings by 4% one year later, but only for individuals at high risk of long-term unemployment (Altmann et al., 2017). Another study demonstrated that providing online advice to broaden job search increased the number of job interviews by 44%. Among narrow searchers, interviews doubled, and among the long-term unemployed with narrow search strategies, interviews tripled (Belot et al., 2019).

‍SMS reminders work. Cochrane reviews of healthcare interventions show that SMS reminders increase appointment attendance rates by 10 percentage points (Gurol‐Urganci et al., 2013). Other meta-analyses show increases in the likelihood of attendance by 50% (Guy et al., 2012). These findings suggest that SMS nudges, such as reminders about application deadlines, interview schedules, or digital literacy workshops, could increase engagement and completion rates for critical job search activities. 


‍References
‍Altmann, S., Falk, A., Jäger, S., & Zimmermann, F. (2018). Learning about job search: A field experiment with job seekers in Germany. Journal of Public Economics, 164, 33-49.
Belot, M., Kircher, P., & Muller, P. (2019). Providing advice to jobseekers at low cost: An experimental study on online advice. The Review of Economic Studies, 86(4), 1411-1447.
Bergson-Shilcock, A., & Taylor, R. (2023). Closing the Digital" Skill" Divide: The Payoff for Workers, Business, and the Economy. National Skills Coalition.
Gurol‐Urganci, I., de Jongh, T., Vodopivec‐Jamsek, V., Atun, R., & Car, J. (2013). Mobile phone messaging reminders for attendance at healthcare appointments. Cochrane database of systematic reviews, (12).
Guy, R., Hocking, J., Wand, H., Stott, S., Ali, H., Kaldor, J., & Fairley, C. (2012). How effective are short message service reminders at increasing clinic attendance? PLOS ONE, 7(9).
Kuhn, P., & Mansour, H. (2014). Is internet job search still ineffective?. The Economic Journal, 124(581), 1213-1233.
Mamedova, S., Pawlowski, E., & Hudson, L. (2018). A description of US adults who are not digitally literate. US Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics.
Mejía, D. (2024). Computer and internet use in the United States: 2021. American Community Survey Reports.U.S. Department of Education. (2024). Highlights of the 2023 U.S. PIAAC results web report (NCES 2024-202). Washington, DC. Retrieved April 28, 2025, from https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/piaac/2023/national_results.aspU.S. Department of Labor. (2023). WIOA Adult Performance Report. Retrieved April 25, 2025, from https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/ETA/Performance/pdfs/PY2023/PY%202023%20WIOA%20National%20Performance%20Summary.pdfU.S. Department of Labor. (2024). WIOA Titles I and III national performance summary: Program year 2023 (July 1, 2023 through June 30, 2024). https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/ETA/Performance/pdfs/PY2023/PY%202023%20WIOA%20National%20Summary%20Narrative.htmlU.S. Department of Labor (2025). WIOA annual statewide performance report narrative – Quick view: Program year 2023. https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/ETA/Performance/pdfs/2025%2002%2012%20-%20WIOA%20State%20Perf%20Narr%20Rep%20PY23%20(final).pdf