People began searching for jobs more in states that decided to opt out of the federal government’s expanded unemployment benefits, early research has found.

Jed Kolko, the chief economist for the employment website Indeed, found that job search activity rose, relative to the national trend, in the roughly two dozen states that have announced they are ending the expanded unemployment benefits program early, a sign that cessation of the program might begin to mend what many economists are characterizing as a labor shortage.