Can Google econometrics predict unemployment? Evidence from Spain

The aim of the paper is to analyze the ability of internet activity, what has been called Google econometrics, to predict unemployment in Spain. We include a new predictor for Spanish unemployment based on internet information provided by Google Trends. Using monthly data from January 2004 to November 2017 we found evidence of a high correlation between internet queries and unemployment. Besides that, the inclusion of internet activity enhances model's prediction performance.