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Getting Grey Hairs in the Labour Market: An Alternative Experiment on Age Discrimination

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  • Baert, Stijn

    (Ghent University)

  • Norga, Jennifer

    (Ghent University)

  • Thuy, Yannick

    (Ghent University)

  • Van Hecke, Marieke

    (Ghent University)

Abstract

This study presents a new field experimental approach for measuring age discrimination in hiring. In addition to the classical approach in which candidates' ages are randomly assigned within pairs of fictitious resumes that are sent to real vacancies, we randomly assign activities undertaken by the older candidates during their additional life years between these pairs. When applying this design to the Belgium case, we find that age discrimination is fundamentally heterogeneous by older candidates' career pattern. Older age affects call-back only (negatively) in case older candidates were inactive or employed in an out-of-field job during their additional post-educational years.

Suggested Citation

  • Baert, Stijn & Norga, Jennifer & Thuy, Yannick & Van Hecke, Marieke, 2015. "Getting Grey Hairs in the Labour Market: An Alternative Experiment on Age Discrimination," IZA Discussion Papers 9289, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp9289
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    Cited by:

    1. Van Borm, Hannah & Burn, Ian & Baert, Stijn, 2021. "What Does a Job Candidate's Age Signal to Employers?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    2. María Isabel Saz-Gil & José Paulo Cosenza & Anabel Zardoya-Alegría & Ana I. Gil-Lacruz, 2020. "Exploring Corporate Social Responsibility under the Background of Sustainable Development Goals: A Proposal to Corporate Volunteering," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(12), pages 1-21, June.
    3. Sterkens, Philippe & Baert, Stijn & Rooman, Claudia & Derous, Eva, 2021. "As if it weren’t hard enough already: Breaking down hiring discrimination following burnout," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 43(C).
    4. Gaddis, S. Michael, 2018. "An Introduction to Audit Studies in the Social Sciences," SocArXiv e5hfc, Center for Open Science.
    5. Baert, Stijn, 2015. "Do They Find You on Facebook? Facebook Profile Picture and Hiring Chances," IZA Discussion Papers 9584, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    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. Y. Saks, 2016. "Socio-economic transitions on the labour market : a European benchmarking exercise," Economic Review, National Bank of Belgium, issue iii, pages 41-58, December.
    8. 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.
    9. Carlsson, Magnus & Eriksson, Stefan, 2017. "The effect of age and gender on labor demand – evidence from a field experiment," Working Paper Series 2017:8, IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy.
    10. Button, Patrick, 2019. "Population Aging, Age Discrimination, and Age Discrimination Protections at the 50th Anniversary of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act," IZA Discussion Papers 12265, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    11. Lippens, Louis & Vermeiren, Siel & Baert, Stijn, 2023. "The state of hiring discrimination: A meta-analysis of (almost) all recent correspondence experiments," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    12. Sterkens, Philippe & Baert, Stijn & Rooman, Claudia & Derous, Eva, 2021. "Why Making Promotion After a Burnout Is Like Boiling the Ocean," GLO Discussion Paper Series 871, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    13. Nüß, Patrick, 2017. "Duration Dependence as an Unemployment Stigma: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Germany," GLO Discussion Paper Series 88, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    14. 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.
    15. 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.
    16. David Neumark & Ian Burn & Patrick Button & Nanneh Chehras, 2016. "Do State Laws Protecting Older Workers from Discrimination Reduce Age Discrimination in Hiring? Experimental (and Nonexperimental) Evidence," Working Papers wp349, University of Michigan, Michigan Retirement Research Center.
    17. Philippe Sterkens & Stijn Baert & Claudia Rooman & Eva Derous, 2020. "As if it weren’t hard enough already: Breaking down hiring discrimination following burnout A causal machine learning evaluation of training in Belgium," Working Papers of Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Ghent University, Belgium 20/1000, Ghent University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration.
    18. van der Velde, Lucas, 2022. "Phasing out: Routine tasks and retirement," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(3), pages 784-803.
    19. Baert, Stijn, 2017. "Hiring Discrimination: An Overview of (Almost) All Correspondence Experiments Since 2005," IZA Discussion Papers 10738, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    20. Lucas van der Velde, 2017. "Phasing out: routine tasks and retirement," GRAPE Working Papers 23, GRAPE Group for Research in Applied Economics.
    21. Carlsson, Magnus & Eriksson, Stefan, 2019. "Age discrimination in hiring decisions: Evidence from a field experiment in the labor market," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 173-183.
    22. Lieze Sohier & Bart Defloor & Luc Van Ootegem & Elsy Verhofstadt, 2022. "Determinants of the Willingness to Retire of Older Workers in Europe," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 164(3), pages 1017-1041, December.
    23. Joanne Song McLaughlin, 2020. "Falling Between the Cracks: Discrimination Laws and Older Women," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 34(2), pages 215-238, June.
    24. Fang, Tony & Gunderson, Morley & Lee, Byron, 2021. "Can Older Workers Be Retrained? Canadian Evidence from Worker-Firm Linked Data," IZA Discussion Papers 14282, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    25. Peter Leasure & Robert J. Kaminski, 2021. "The Effectiveness of Certificates of Relief: A Correspondence Audit of Hiring Outcomes," Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 18(4), pages 849-875, December.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    age discrimination; design of experiments; ageing; difference in post-educational years problem; hiring discrimination; field experiments;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C90 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - General
    • C93 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Field Experiments
    • J14 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of the Elderly; Economics of the Handicapped; Non-Labor Market Discrimination
    • J71 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Discrimination - - - Hiring and Firing

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