The faster, the better? The impact of internet speed on employment

•Does faster broadband generate more economic benefits than normal-speed broadband? This study examines the differential economic impacts of broadband of different speeds.•Utilizing the broadband availability and speed data from the National Broadband Map, a first-differenced regression analysis was conducted to investigate if faster broadband boosts employment more effectively than does slower broadband.•A panel of county-level data from the year 2011 to 2014 was constructed from 8 states chosen by a stratified random sampling procedure.•Using a first-differenced regression analysis, the study shows a positive relationship between broadband availability and county-level employment.•However, compared to lower-speed broadband, faster broadband did not have significantly greater effects on employment.

Does faster broadband generate more economic benefits than normal-speed broadband? This study examines the differential economic impacts of broadband of different speeds. Utilizing the broadband availability and speed data from the National Broadband Map, a first-differenced regression analysis was conducted to investigate if faster broadband more effectively boosts the employment. The analysis shows a positive relationship between broadband availability and county-level employment. However, compared to normal-speed broadband, faster broadband did not generate greater positive effects on employment.