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Age and Gender Profiling in the Chinese and Mexican Labor Markets: Evidence from Four Job Boards

Author

Listed:
  • Delgado Helleseter, Miguel

    (California State University, Channel Islands)

  • Kuhn, Peter J.

    (University of California, Santa Barbara)

  • Shen, Kailing

    (Australian National University)

Abstract

When permitted by law, employers sometimes state the preferred age and sex of their employees in job ads. We study this practice using data from one Mexican and three Chinese job boards, showing that it is widely used to request both genders and is especially prevalent in jobs with low skill requirements. For example, on the job board serving less-skilled production and service workers in China, 72 percent of ads specified a preferred gender, and 77 percent listed both a minimum and maximum age. We also document a new stylized fact we call the age twist in gender profiling: firms' explicit gender requests shift dramatically away from women and towards men when firms are seeking older (as opposed to younger) workers. While some of this twist can be attributed to employers' age-dependent requests for (female) beauty and (male) leadership, the timing of the shift suggests that young women's movement into childbearing also plays a role.

Suggested Citation

  • Delgado Helleseter, Miguel & Kuhn, Peter J. & Shen, Kailing, 2016. "Age and Gender Profiling in the Chinese and Mexican Labor Markets: Evidence from Four Job Boards," IZA Discussion Papers 9891, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp9891
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Emily A. Beam & Joshua Hyman & Caroline Theoharides, 2020. "The Relative Returns to Education, Experience, and Attractiveness for Young Workers," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 68(2), pages 391-428.
    2. R. Jason Faberman & Marianna Kudlyak, 2016. "What Does Online Job Search Tell Us about the Labor Market?," Economic Perspectives, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, issue 1, pages 1-15.
    3. Tara Sinclair & Mariano Mamertino, 2016. "Online Job Search and Migration Intentions Across EU Member States," Working Papers 2016-5, The George Washington University, Institute for International Economic Policy.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    search; beauty; Internet; Mexico; China; age; discrimination; gender; recruiting; screening;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J63 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Turnover; Vacancies; Layoffs
    • J71 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Discrimination - - - Hiring and Firing

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