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Do Employers Discriminate Less if Vacancies are Difficult to Fill? Evidence from a Field Experiment

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Listed:
  • Stijn Baert
  • Bart Cockx
  • Niels Gheyle
  • Cora Vandamme

Abstract

We empirically test the relationship between hiring discrimination and labour market tightness at the level of the occupation. To this end, we conduct a correspondence test in the youth labour market. In line with theoretical expectations, we find that, compared to natives, candidates with a foreign sounding name are equally often invited to a job interview if they apply for occupations for which vacancies are difficult to fill, but they have to send twice as many applications for occupations for which labour market tightness is low. Our findings are robust against various sensitivity checks.

Suggested Citation

  • Stijn Baert & Bart Cockx & Niels Gheyle & Cora Vandamme, 2013. "Do Employers Discriminate Less if Vacancies are Difficult to Fill? Evidence from a Field Experiment," CESifo Working Paper Series 4093, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_4093
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    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. Discrimination is a luxury
      by Nicholas Gruen in Club Troppo on 2013-02-13 16:25:24

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    Cited by:

    1. Baert, Stijn & Cockx, Bart, 2013. "Pure ethnic gaps in educational attainment and school to work transitions: When do they arise?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 276-294.
    2. Alexandra Mergener & Tobias Maier, 2019. "Immigrants’ Chances of Being Hired at Times of Skill Shortages: Results from a Factorial Survey Experiment Among German Employers," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 20(1), pages 155-177, February.
    3. Cockx, Bart, 2013. "Youth Unemployment in Belgium: Diagnosis and Key Remedies," IZA Policy Papers 66, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Patrick Button, 2019. "Population Aging, Age Discrimination, and Age Discrimination Protections at the 50th Anniversary of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act," NBER Working Papers 25850, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Emmanuel Duguet & Loïc du Parquet & Yannick L'Horty & Pacale Petit, 2019. "Counterproductive Hiring Discrimination Against Women: Evidence From a French Correspondence Test," TEPP Working Paper 2019-06, TEPP.
    6. Carlsson, Magnus & Fumarco, Luca & Rooth, Dan-Olof, 2013. "Artifactual evidence of discrimination in correspondence studies? A replication of the Neumark method," POLIS Working Papers 172, Institute of Public Policy and Public Choice - POLIS.
    7. Arni, Patrick, 2012. "Kausale Evaluation von Pilotprojekten: Die Nutzung von Randomisierung in der Praxis," IZA Standpunkte 52, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    8. Weichselbaumer Doris, 2017. "Discrimination Against Migrant Job Applicants in Austria: An Experimental Study," German Economic Review, De Gruyter, vol. 18(2), pages 237-265, May.
    9. Zschirnt, Eva & Ruedin, Didier, 2016. "Ethnic discrimination in hiring decisions: A meta-analysis of correspondence tests 1990–2015," EconStor Preprints 142176, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    10. Emmanuel Duguet & Rémi Le Gall & Yannick L’Horty & Pascale Petit, 2018. "How does labour market history influence the access to hiring interviews?," International Journal of Manpower, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 39(4), pages 519-533, July.
    11. Stijn Baert, 2014. "Career lesbians. Getting hired for not having kids?," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(6), pages 543-561, November.
    12. Nunley John M. & Pugh Adam & Romero Nicholas & Seals R. Alan, 2015. "Racial Discrimination in the Labor Market for Recent College Graduates: Evidence from a Field Experiment," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 15(3), pages 1093-1125, July.
    13. Binnur Balkan & Seyit Mümin Cilasun, 2018. "Ethnic Discrimination in the Turkish Labor Market: Evidence From Survey and Field Data," Working Papers 1197, Economic Research Forum, revised 24 May 2018.
    14. Rich, Judy, 2014. "What Do Field Experiments of Discrimination in Markets Tell Us? A Meta Analysis of Studies Conducted since 2000," IZA Discussion Papers 8584, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    15. K. Burggraeve & C. Piton, 2016. "The economic consequences of the flow of refugees into Belgium," Economic Review, National Bank of Belgium, issue i, pages 43-61, June.
    16. Guillaume Pierné, 2013. "Hiring discrimination based on national origin and religious closeness: results from a field experiment in the Paris area," IZA Journal of Labor Economics, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 2(1), pages 1-15, December.
    17. Magnus Carlsson & Luca Fumarco & Dan-Olof Rooth, 2014. "Does the design of correspondence studies influence the measurement of discrimination?," IZA Journal of Migration and Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 3(1), pages 1-17, December.
    18. Auspurg, Katrin & Schneck, Andreas & Thiel, Fabian, 2020. "Different samples, different results? How sampling techniques affect the results of field experiments on ethnic discrimination," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 0.
    19. Stijn Baert & Elsy Verhofstadt, 2015. "Labour market discrimination against former juvenile delinquents: evidence from a field experiment," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(11), pages 1061-1072, March.
    20. Marianne Bertrand & Esther Duflo, 2016. "Field Experiments on Discrimination," NBER Working Papers 22014, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    21. John M. Nunley & Adam Pugh & Nicholas Romero & Richard Alan Seals, Jr., 2014. "An Examination of Racial Discrimination in the Labor Market for Recent College Graduates: Estimates from the Field," Auburn Economics Working Paper Series auwp2014-06, Department of Economics, Auburn University.
    22. Julie Maes & Jonas Wood & Karel Neels, 2023. "Path-Dependencies in Employment Trajectories Around Motherhood: Comparing Native Versus Second-Generation Migrant Women in Belgium," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 24(1), pages 281-344, March.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    hiring discrimination; ethnic discrimination; labour market tightness; field experiments;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C93 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Field Experiments
    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J21 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • J42 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Monopsony; Segmented Labor Markets
    • J71 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Discrimination - - - Hiring and Firing

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