La religion, facteur de discrimination à l’embauche en France ?

Based on a correspondence test of unprecedented scale conducted before the 2015 attacks, this paper compares the callback rates of fictive female and male applicants of Lebanese origin who are identical in every respect save their perceived religion. The results reveal a strong hiring discrimination on grounds of religion: Catholics have to send five applications before being called back by the recruiter, while six applications must be submitted by Jews and ten by Muslims. Male Muslim applicants suffer the most discrimination: they must submit four times as many applications as their Catholic counterparts. This penalty seems at least partly attributable to their association with a risk of transgressive religious practices and insubordination in the workplace. Classification JEL : C93, J71, J78, Z12.