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Hiring Discrimination Against Pro-union Applicants: The Role of Union Density and Firm Size

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  • Stijn Baert
  • Eddy Omey

Abstract

We study the causal impact of revealing pro-unionism during the recruitment stage on hiring chances. To this end, we conduct a randomised field experiment in the Belgian labour market. When matched with employer and sector data, the experimentally gathered data enable us to test the heterogeneity of discrimination against pro-union applicants by the union density in the sector and the size of the firm. We find that disclosure of pro-unionism affects hiring chances in a negative way and that—in line with our expectations based on the literature—this negative impact is stronger in highly unionised sectors. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media New York 2015

Suggested Citation

  • Stijn Baert & Eddy Omey, 2015. "Hiring Discrimination Against Pro-union Applicants: The Role of Union Density and Firm Size," De Economist, Springer, vol. 163(3), pages 263-280, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:decono:v:163:y:2015:i:3:p:263-280
    DOI: 10.1007/s10645-015-9252-1
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    10. Drydakis, Nick, 2009. "Sexual orientation discrimination in the labour market," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(4), pages 364-372, August.
    11. Stijn Baert, 2014. "Career lesbians. Getting hired for not having kids?," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(6), pages 543-561, November.
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    Cited by:

    1. Uwe Jirjahn & Jens Mohrenweiser, 2016. "Owner-Managers and the Failure of Newly Adopted Works Councils," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 54(4), pages 815-845, December.
    2. Baert, Stijn, 2017. "Hiring Discrimination: An Overview of (Almost) All Correspondence Experiments Since 2005," IZA Discussion Papers 10738, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Stijn Baert & Dieter Verhaest, 2019. "Unemployment or Overeducation: Which is a Worse Signal to Employers?," De Economist, Springer, vol. 167(1), pages 1-21, March.
    4. Ali M. Ahmed & Elisabeth Lång, 2017. "The employability of ex-offenders: a field experiment in the Swedish labor market," IZA Journal of Labor Policy, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 6(1), pages 1-23, December.
    5. Gaddis, S. Michael, 2018. "An Introduction to Audit Studies in the Social Sciences," SocArXiv e5hfc, Center for Open Science.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Trade unions; Union density; Hiring discrimination; Randomised field experiments; Industrial relations; J53; J71; C93;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J53 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - Labor-Management Relations; Industrial Jurisprudence
    • J71 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Discrimination - - - Hiring and Firing
    • C93 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Field Experiments

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