The online activity of Internet users has repeatedly been shown to provide a rich information set for various research fields. We focus on job-related searches on Google and their possible usefulness in the region of the Visegrad Group--the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. Even for rather small economies, the online searches of inhabitants can be successfully utilized for macroeconomic predictions. Specifically, we study unemployment rates and their interconnection with job-related searches. We show that Google searches enhance nowcasting models of unemployment rates for the Czech Republic and Hungary whereas for Poland and Slovakia, the results are mixed.

Institute of Information Theory and Automation Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic Pod Vodarenskou vezi 4 Prague 8 182 08 Czech Republic

Institute of Information Theory and Automation Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic Pod Vodarenskou vezi 4 Prague 8 182 08 Czech Republic; Institute of Economic Studies Charles University Opletalova 26 110 00 Prague Czech Republic; Warwick Business School University of Warwick Coventry West Midlands CV4 7AL United Kingdom

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