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Ethnic Discrimination in China's Internet Job Board Labor Market

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  • Maurer-Fazio, Margaret

    (Bates College)

Abstract

We conduct a large-scale field experiment to investigate how Chinese firms respond to job applications from ethnic minority and Han applicants for jobs posted on a large Chinese Internet job board. We denote ethnicity by means of names that are typically Han Chinese and distinctively Mongolian, Tibetan, and Uighur. We find significant differences in the callback rates by ethnicity and that these differences vary systematically across ethnic groups. Not all firms discriminate – approximately half treat all candidates equally. State-owned firms are significantly less likely than privately-owned firms to discriminate against minorities by calling only candidates with Han names and much more likely to treat candidates equally.

Suggested Citation

  • Maurer-Fazio, Margaret, 2012. "Ethnic Discrimination in China's Internet Job Board Labor Market," IZA Discussion Papers 6903, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6903
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Gaddis, S. Michael, 2018. "An Introduction to Audit Studies in the Social Sciences," SocArXiv e5hfc, Center for Open Science.
    2. Hou, Yue & Liu, Chuyu & Crabtree, Charles, 2020. "Anti-muslim bias in the Chinese labor market," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(2), pages 235-250.
    3. Nikolaos Askitas & Klaus F. Zimmermann, 2015. "The internet as a data source for advancement in social sciences," International Journal of Manpower, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 36(1), pages 2-12, April.
    4. Button, Patrick & Walker, Brigham, 2020. "Employment discrimination against Indigenous Peoples in the United States: Evidence from a field experiment," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    5. Gustafsson, Björn Anders & Yang, Xiuna, 2015. "Are China's Ethnic Minorities Less Likely to Move?," IZA Discussion Papers 9018, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Zhang, Jian & Jin, Songqing & Li, Tao & Wang, Haigang, 2021. "Gender discrimination in China: Experimental evidence from the job market for college graduates," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(3), pages 819-835.
    7. Marianne Bertrand & Esther Duflo, 2016. "Field Experiments on Discrimination," NBER Working Papers 22014, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Andrew W. MACDONALD & Reza HASMATH, 2019. "Outsider ethnic minorities and wage determination in China," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 158(3), pages 489-508, September.
    9. Björn Gustafsson & Xiuna Yang, 2017. "Earnings among nine ethnic minorities and the Han majority in China's cities," Journal of the Asia Pacific Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(3), pages 525-546, July.
    10. Asali, Muhammad & Pignatti, Norberto & Skhirtladze, Sophiko, 2018. "Employment discrimination in a former Soviet Union Republic: Evidence from a field experiment," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(4), pages 1294-1309.
    11. Margaret Maurer-Fazio & Sili Wang, 2018. "Does marital status affect how firms interpret job applicants’ un/employment histories?," International Journal of Manpower, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 39(4), pages 567-580, July.
    12. Maurer-Fazio, Margaret & Connelly, Rachel & Thi Tran, Ngoc-Han, 2015. "Do Negative Native-Place Stereotypes Lead to Discriminatory Wage Penalties in China's Migrant Labor Markets?," IZA Discussion Papers 8842, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    13. Gustafsson, Björn Anders & Sai, Ding, 2014. "Why Is There No Income Gap Between the Hui Muslim Minority and the Han Majority in Rural Ningxia, China?," IZA Discussion Papers 7970, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    14. Lucia Kureková & Miroslav Beblavý & Anna Thum-Thysen, 2015. "Using online vacancies and web surveys to analyse the labour market: a methodological inquiry," IZA Journal of Labor Economics, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 4(1), pages 1-20, December.
    15. 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.
    16. 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).
    17. Ding, Sai & Dong, Xiao-Yuan & Maurer-Fazio, Margaret, 2016. "How Do Pre-School and/or School-Age Children Affect Parents' Likelihood of Migration and Off-Farm Work in Rural China's Minority Regions?," IZA Discussion Papers 10073, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    18. Mobius, Markus & Rosenblat, Tanya & Wang, Qiqi, 2016. "Ethnic discrimination: Evidence from China," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 165-177.
    19. Han, Enze & Paik, Christopher, 2017. "Ethnic Integration and Development in China," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 31-42.
    20. Baert, Stijn, 2017. "Hiring Discrimination: An Overview of (Almost) All Correspondence Experiments Since 2005," IZA Discussion Papers 10738, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    21. Jan Drahokoupil & Brian Fabo, 2019. "The limits of foreign-led growth: Demand for digital skills by foreign and domestic firms in Slovakia," Working and Discussion Papers WP 7/2019, Research Department, National Bank of Slovakia.
    22. Uwe Dulleck & Jonas Fooken & Yumei He, 2020. "Hukou Status and Individual-Level Labor Market Discrimination: An Experiment in China," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 73(3), pages 628-649, May.
    23. Gustafsson, Björn Anders & Yang, Xiuna, 2016. "Earnings among Nine Ethnic Minorities and the Han Majority in China's Cities," IZA Discussion Papers 10230, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    24. Fischer, A.M. & Zenz, A., 2016. "The evolution of Tibetan representation and preferentiality in public employment during the Post-fenpei period in China: Insights from new data sources," ISS Working Papers - General Series 620, International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam (ISS), The Hague.
    25. Maurer-Fazio, Margaret & Lei, Lei, 2014. ""As Rare as a Panda": How Facial Attractiveness, Gender, and Occupation Affect Interview Callbacks at Chinese Firms," IZA Discussion Papers 8605, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    resume audit study; internet job boards; Chinese firms; hiring; discrimination; ethnicity;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J71 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Discrimination - - - Hiring and Firing
    • J23 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Demand
    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • O52 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Europe
    • P25 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Socialist and Transition Economies - - - Urban, Rural, and Regional Economics

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