Your phone data can reveal that you’re unemployed

A study, co-authored by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) researchers, which took data from two European countries, suggests that mobile phone data can indeed provide rapid insight into employment levels.

People’s communication patterns change when they are unemployed, according to a new study.

ISB-student-talking-on-phone

A study, co-authored by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) researchers, which took data from two European countries, suggests that mobile phone data can indeed provide rapid insight into employment levels.

“Individuals who we believe to have been laid off display fewer phone calls incoming, contact fewer people each month, and the people they are contacting are different,” said Jameson Toole, a PhD candidate in MIT’s engineering systems division, and co-author of the study, in a 15 June press statement.

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