Labor Market Implications of Weak Ties‪.‬

1. Introduction Many of us have heard the phrase "it's not what you know but who you know." While this may not be strictly true, approximately one half of workers in the United States do find employment through friends, relatives, and other social contacts (Granovetter 1995). Further, in a seminal paper, Granovetter (1973) argues that, for the purpose of finding jobs, it is acquaintances, not close friends, who are most important in helping individuals find employment. He claims that friends whom one knows well are likely to be close in social space. Close friends know one's other close friends and tend to have social networks similar to each other. Thus, any information held by a given close friend may be obtained from other close friends as well; the job information of close friends is often redundant. In contrast, acquaintances tend to have less similar social networks and know different people from one's close friends. Granovetter argued that acquaintances also are more likely to have different information about available jobs, which makes them valuable job contacts. Granovetter labeled acquaintances as weak ties as opposed to close friends, who are known as strong ties.