IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/fip/fedfel/95745.html

Age Discrimination and Age Stereotypes in Job Ads

Author

Abstract

Studies suggest that employers discriminate against older workers in hiring, responding less favorably to equally qualified job applicants who are older. Employers may also limit hiring of older workers by including age stereotypes in job ads that signal a preference for younger workers. Evidence from an experimental study shows that older workers are less likely to apply to job advertisements that contain language with ageist stereotypes. The results indicate that this impact is comparable to the direct effects of employer age discrimination in hiring decisions.

Suggested Citation

  • Ian Burn & Daniel Firoozi & Daniel Ladd & David Neumark, 2023. "Age Discrimination and Age Stereotypes in Job Ads," FRBSF Economic Letter, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, vol. 2023(07), pages 1-5, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedfel:95745
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.frbsf.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/el2023-07.pdf
    File Function: Full text - article PDF
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. David Neumark & Ian Burn & Patrick Button, 2019. "Is It Harder for Older Workers to Find Jobs? New and Improved Evidence from a Field Experiment," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 127(2), pages 922-970.
    2. Ian Burn & Patrick Button & Luis Munguia Corella & David Neumark, 2022. "Does Ageist Language in Job Ads Predict Age Discrimination in Hiring?," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 40(3), pages 613-667.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kuhn, Florian & Chanci, Luis, 2024. "Racial disparities in labor outcomes: The effects of hiring discrimination over the business cycle," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 801-817.
    2. Alexander Berry & Molly Maloney & David Neumark, 2024. "The Missing Link? Using LinkedIn Data to Measure Race, Ethnic, and Gender Differences in Employment Outcomes at Individual Companies," NBER Chapters, in: Race, Ethnicity, and Economic Statistics for the 21st Century, pages 273-323, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Zanoni, Wladimir & Díaz, Lina, 2024. "Discrimination against migrants and its determinants: Evidence from a Multi-Purpose Field Experiment in the Housing Rental Market," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    4. Todd Morris & Benoit Dostie, 2023. "Graying and staying on the job: The welfare implications of employment protection for older workers," Cahiers de recherche / Working Papers 15, Institut sur la retraite et l'épargne / Retirement and Savings Institute.
    5. Henry S. Farber & Dan Silverman & Till von Wachter, 2016. "Determinants of Callbacks to Job Applications: An Audit Study," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 106(5), pages 314-318, May.
    6. Ian Burn & Patrick Button & Luis Felipe Munguia Corella & David Neumark, 2019. "Older Workers Need Not Apply? Ageist Language in Job Ads and Age Discrimination in Hiring," NBER Working Papers 26552, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. 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).
    8. Mattie Mackenzie-Liu & David J. Schwegman & Leonard M. Lopoo, 2020. "Do Foster Care Agencies Discriminate Against Gay Couples? Evidence from a Correspondence Study," Center for Policy Research Working Papers 224, Center for Policy Research, Maxwell School, Syracuse University.
    9. Truc Thi Mai Bui & Patrick Button & Elyce G. Picciotti, 2020. "Early Evidence on the Impact of COVID-19 and the Recession on Older Workers," NBER Working Papers 27448, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Jing Wang & Qian Gao & Rui Zhang, 2025. "Gig economy and its impact on individual employment: an empirical analysis," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 12(1), pages 1-14, December.
    11. Chang, Huayi & Heerink, Nico & Zhang, Junbiao & He, Ke, 2024. "Off-farm employment and household clean energy transition in rural China: A study based on a gender perspective," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 287(C).
    12. Alexsandros Cavgias & Cristian Navarro, 2025. "Seeds of Prejudice: The Impact of British Colonization on Attitudes towards Sexual Minorities," Working Papers wp2025_2514, CEMFI.
    13. Amanda Agan & Sonja Starr, 2016. "Ban the Box, Criminal Records, and Statistical Discrimination: A Field Experiment," Working Papers 598, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section..
    14. Gordon B. Dahl & Matthew Knepper, 2023. "Age Discrimination across the Business Cycle," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 15(4), pages 75-112, November.
    15. Baert, Stijn, 2017. "Hiring Discrimination: An Overview of (Almost) All Correspondence Experiments Since 2005," GLO Discussion Paper Series 61, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    16. Stijn Baert & Sunčica Vujić, 2018. "Does it pay to care? Volunteering and employment opportunities," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 31(3), pages 819-836, July.
    17. Drydakis, Nick & MacDonald, Peter & Bozani, Vasiliki & Chiotis, Vangelis, 2017. "Inclusive Recruitment? Hiring Discrimination against Older Workers," IZA Discussion Papers 10957, IZA Network @ LISER.
    18. Malik, Sara & Rabier, MaryJane, 2025. "A Word of WARN-ing: Advance Notice of Layoffs and Labor Market Outcomes," IZA Discussion Papers 18166, IZA Network @ LISER.
    19. Van Borm, Hannah & Burn, Ian & Baert, Stijn, 2021. "What Does a Job Candidate's Age Signal to Employers?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    20. 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, IZA Network @ LISER.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:fip:fedfel:95745. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco Research Library (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/frbsfus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.