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Customer Discrimination and Employment Outcomes: Theory and Evidence from the French Labor Market

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  • Pierre-Philippe Combes
  • Bruno Decreuse
  • Morgane Laouénan
  • Alain Trannoy

Abstract

The paper investigates the link between the overexposure of African immigrants to unemployment in France and their underrepresentation in jobs in contact with customers. We build a two-sector matching model with ethnic sector-specific preferences, economy-wide employer discrimination, and customer discrimination in jobs in contact with customers. The outcomes of the model allow us to build a test of ethnic discrimination in general and customer discrimination in particular. We run the test on French individual data in a cross section of local labor markets (employment areas). Our results show both ethnic and customer discrimination in the French labor market.

Suggested Citation

  • Pierre-Philippe Combes & Bruno Decreuse & Morgane Laouénan & Alain Trannoy, 2016. "Customer Discrimination and Employment Outcomes: Theory and Evidence from the French Labor Market," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 34(1), pages 107-160.
    • Handle: RePEc:ucp:jlabec:doi:10.1086/682332
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    Cited by:

    1. Combes, Pierre-Philippe & Decreuse, Bruno & Schmutz, Benoît & Trannoy, Alain, 2018. "Neighbor discrimination theory and evidence from the French rental market," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 104-123.
    2. Laouénan, Morgane, 2014. "'Can't Get Enough': Prejudice, Contact Jobs and the Racial Wage Gap in the US," IZA Discussion Papers 8006, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
    3. Gobillon, Laurent & Rupert, Peter & Wasmer, Etienne, 2014. "Ethnic unemployment rates and frictional markets," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 108-120.
    4. Morgane Laouénan, 2013. "Un cas particulier de discrimination sur le marché du travail : l'accès aux emplois en contact avec le public," Économie et Statistique, Programme National Persée, vol. 464(1), pages 35-58.
    5. Romain Aeberhardt & Élise Coudin & Roland Rathelot, 2017. "The heterogeneity of ethnic employment gaps," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 30(1), pages 307-337, January.
    6. Laouénan, Morgane, 2017. "‘Hate at First Sight’: Evidence of consumer discrimination against African-Americans in the US," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 94-109.
    7. Laurent Gobillon & Matthieu Solignac, 2014. "Homeownership of immigrants in France," ERSA conference papers ersa14p558, European Regional Science Association.
    8. Sur, Pramod Kumar & Sasaki, Masaru, 2018. "Measuring Customer Discrimination: Evidence from the Professional Cricket League in India," IZA Discussion Papers 11319, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
    9. Leda M. Pérez & Pedro Llanos Paredes, 2015. "¿Al fondo del escalafón?: un estado de la cuestión sobre el trabajo doméstico remunerado en el Perú," Working Papers 15-01, Centro de Investigación, Universidad del Pacífico.
    10. Nunley John M. & Pugh Adam & Romero Nicholas & Seals R. Alan, 2015. "Racial Discrimination in the Labor Market for Recent College Graduates: Evidence from a Field Experiment," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 15(3), pages 1093-1125, July.
    11. Francisco Galarza & Gustavo Yamada & Carlos Zelada, 2015. "Cuesta arriba para los afroperuanos: evidencia de la discriminación en el acceso al mercado laboral de Lima Metropolitana," Working Papers 15-03, Centro de Investigación, Universidad del Pacífico.
    12. Boyd-Swan, Casey & Herbst, Chris M., 2017. "Racial and Ethnic Discrimination in the Labor Market for Child Care Teachers," IZA Discussion Papers 11140, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers
    • R23 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Regional Migration; Regional Labor Markets; Population

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