IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/glodps/972.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The state of hiring discrimination: A meta-analysis of (almost) all recent correspondence experiments

Author

Listed:
  • Lippens, Louis
  • Vermeiren, Siel
  • Baert, Stijn

Abstract

Notwithstanding the improved integration of various minority groups in the workforce, unequal treatment in hiring still hinders many individuals' access to the labour market. To tackle this inaccessibility, it is essential to know which and to what extent minority groups face hiring discrimination. Past meta-studies have charted parts of the discrimination literature but permit only limited comparisons across minority groups. This meta-analysis synthesises a quasi-exhaustive register of correspondence experiments on hiring discrimination published between 2005 and 2020. Using a random-effects model, we computed pooled discrimination ratios concerning a total of ten discrimination grounds upon which unequal treatment in hiring is forbidden under United States federal or state law. First, we find that hiring discrimination against candidates with disabilities, older candidates, and less physically attractive candidates is at least equally severe as the unequal treatment of candidates with salient racial or ethnic characteristics. Remarkably, hiring discrimination against older applicants is even higher in Europe than in the United States. Furthermore, unequal treatment in hiring based on sexual orientation seems to be prompted mainly by signalling activism through an affiliation with an LGB+ rights organisation rather than same-sex orientation in itself. Last, hiring discrimination remains pervasive. Aside from a decrease in hiring discrimination based on race and national origin in Europe, we find no structural evidence of temporal changes in hiring discrimination based on the various other grounds within the scope of this review.

Suggested Citation

  • Lippens, Louis & Vermeiren, Siel & Baert, Stijn, 2021. "The state of hiring discrimination: A meta-analysis of (almost) all recent correspondence experiments," GLO Discussion Paper Series 972, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
  • Handle: RePEc:zbw:glodps:972
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/244614/1/GLO-DP-0972.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Patrick Kline & Evan K Rose & Christopher R Walters, 2023. "Systemic Discrimination Among Large U.S. Employers," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 137(4), pages 1963-2036.
    2. Gaddis, S. Michael, 2015. "Discrimination in the Credential Society: An Audit Study of Race and College Selectivity in the Labor Market," SocArXiv 6qjue, Center for Open Science.
    3. Drydakis, Nick, 2017. "Measuring labour differences between natives, non-natives, and natives with an ethnic-minority background," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 161(C), pages 27-30.
    4. Asali, Muhammad & Pignatti, Norberto & Skhirtladze, Sophiko, 2018. "Employment discrimination in a former Soviet Union Republic: Evidence from a field experiment," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(4), pages 1294-1309.
    5. Ann Morning, 2008. "Ethnic Classification in Global Perspective: A Cross-National Survey of the 2000 Census Round," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 27(2), pages 239-272, April.
    6. Jacquemet, Nicolas & Yannelis, Constantine, 2012. "Indiscriminate discrimination: A correspondence test for ethnic homophily in the Chicago labor market," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(6), pages 824-832.
    7. Oaxaca, Ronald, 1973. "Male-Female Wage Differentials in Urban Labor Markets," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 14(3), pages 693-709, October.
    8. Clara Cortina & Jorge Rodríguez & M. José González, 2021. "Mind the Job: The Role of Occupational Characteristics in Explaining Gender Discrimination," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 156(1), pages 91-110, July.
    9. Rajeev Darolia & Cory Koedel & Paco Martorell & Katie Wilson & Francisco Perez-Arce, 2016. "Race and gender effects on employer interest in job applicants: new evidence from a resume field experiment," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(12), pages 853-856, August.
    10. Alan S. Blinder, 1973. "Wage Discrimination: Reduced Form and Structural Estimates," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 8(4), pages 436-455.
    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. Kevin Lang & Ariella Kahn-Lang Spitzer, 2020. "Race Discrimination: An Economic Perspective," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 34(2), pages 68-89, Spring.
    13. Emily A. Beam & Joshua Hyman & Caroline Theoharides, 2020. "The Relative Returns to Education, Experience, and Attractiveness for Young Workers," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 68(2), pages 391-428.
    14. Zschirnt, Eva & Ruedin, Didier, 2016. "Ethnic discrimination in hiring decisions: A meta-analysis of correspondence tests 1990–2015," EconStor Preprints 142176, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    15. Nick Drydakis, 2014. "Sexual orientation discrimination in the Cypriot labour market. Distastes or uncertainty?," International Journal of Manpower, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 35(5), pages 720-744, July.
    16. Baert, Stijn, 2021. "The iceberg decomposition: A parsimonious way to map the health of labour markets," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 350-365.
    17. Stijn Baert, 2014. "Career lesbians. Getting hired for not having kids?," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(6), pages 543-561, November.
    18. Altonji, Joseph G. & Blank, Rebecca M., 1999. "Race and gender in the labor market," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 48, pages 3143-3259, Elsevier.
    19. Drydakis, Nick, 2009. "Sexual orientation discrimination in the labour market," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(4), pages 364-372, August.
    20. David Neumark, 2018. "Experimental Research on Labor Market Discrimination," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 56(3), pages 799-866, September.
    21. Yemane, Ruta & Fernández-Reino, Mariña, 2021. "Latinos in the United States and in Spain: the impact of ethnic group stereotypes on labour market outcomes," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 47(6), pages 1240-1260.
    22. repec:hal:pseose:hal-00745109 is not listed on IDEAS
    23. Nick Drydakis & Minas Vlassis, 2010. "Ethnic Discrimination In The Greek Labour Market: Occupational Access, Insurance Coverage And Wage Offers," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 78(3), pages 201-218, June.
    24. 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.
    25. Marianne Bertrand & Sendhil Mullainathan, 2004. "Are Emily and Greg More Employable Than Lakisha and Jamal? A Field Experiment on Labor Market Discrimination," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(4), pages 991-1013, September.
    26. Tomáš Havránek & T. D. Stanley & Hristos Doucouliagos & Pedro Bom & Jerome Geyer‐Klingeberg & Ichiro Iwasaki & W. Robert Reed & Katja Rost & R. C. M. van Aert, 2020. "Reporting Guidelines For Meta‐Analysis In Economics," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(3), pages 469-475, July.
    27. Baert, Stijn & Norga, Jennifer & Thuy, Yannick & Van Hecke, Marieke, 2016. "Getting grey hairs in the labour market. An alternative experiment on age discrimination," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 86-101.
    28. Drydakis, Nick & MacDonald, Peter & Bozani, Vasiliki & Chiotis, Vangelis, 2017. "Inclusive Recruitment? Hiring Discrimination against Older Workers," IZA Discussion Papers 10957, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    29. Clémence Berson, 2012. "Does Competition Induce Hiring Equity ?," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) halshs-00718627, HAL.
    30. Carlotta Balestra & Lara Fleischer, 2018. "Diversity statistics in the OECD: How do OECD countries collect data on ethnic, racial and indigenous identity?," OECD Statistics Working Papers 2018/09, OECD Publishing.
    31. Nick Drydakis, 2022. "Sexual orientation and earnings: a meta-analysis 2012–2020," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 35(2), pages 409-440, April.
    32. Gaddis, S. Michael, 2018. "An Introduction to Audit Studies in the Social Sciences," SocArXiv e5hfc, Center for Open Science.
    33. Chowdhury, Shyamal & Ooi, Evarn & Slonim, Robert, 2020. "Racial Discrimination and White First Name Adoption: Evidence from a Correspondence Study in the Australian Labour Market," IZA Discussion Papers 13208, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    34. repec:eee:labchp:v:3:y:1999:i:pc:p:3143-3259 is not listed on IDEAS
    35. David Neumark & Ian Burn & Patrick Button & Nanneh Chehras, 2019. "Do State Laws Protecting Older Workers from Discrimination Reduce Age Discrimination in Hiring? Evidence from a Field Experiment," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 62(2), pages 373-402.
    36. Viechtbauer, Wolfgang, 2010. "Conducting Meta-Analyses in R with the metafor Package," Journal of Statistical Software, Foundation for Open Access Statistics, vol. 36(i03).
    37. Van Borm, Hannah & Baert, Stijn, 2022. "Diving in the Minds of Recruiters: What Triggers Gender Stereotypes in Hiring?," IZA Discussion Papers 15261, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    38. Eleonora Patacchini & Giuseppe Ragusa & Yves Zenou, 2015. "Unexplored dimensions of discrimination in Europe: homosexuality and physical appearance," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 28(4), pages 1045-1073, October.
    39. Alexandre Flage, 2019. "Discrimination against gays and lesbians in hiring decisions: a meta-analysis," International Journal of Manpower, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 41(6), pages 671-691, September.
    40. Nick Drydakis, 2014. "Sexual orientation discrimination in the Cypriot labour market. Distastes or uncertainty?," International Journal of Manpower, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 35(5), pages 720-744, July.
    41. Bart Capéau & Lieve Eeman & Steven Groenez & Miet Lamberts, 2012. "Two concepts of discrimination: inequality of opportunity versus unequal treatment of equals," Working Papers ECARES ECARES 2012-021, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    42. Peter A. Riach, 2015. "A field experiment investigating age discrimination in four European labour markets," International Review of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(5), pages 608-619, September.
    43. Lex Thijssen & Marcel Coenders & Bram Lancee, 2021. "Ethnic Discrimination in the Dutch Labor Market: Differences Between Ethnic Minority Groups and the Role of Personal Information About Job Applicants—Evidence from a Field Experiment," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 22(3), pages 1125-1150, September.
    44. Stasio, Valentina Di & Lancee, Bram & Veit, Susanne & Yemane, Ruta, 2021. "Muslim by default or religious discrimination? Results from a cross-national field experiment on hiring discrimination," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 47(6), pages 1305-1326.
    45. Matthew J Page & Joanne E McKenzie & Patrick M Bossuyt & Isabelle Boutron & Tammy C Hoffmann & Cynthia D Mulrow & Larissa Shamseer & Jennifer M Tetzlaff & Elie A Akl & Sue E Brennan & Roger Chou & Jul, 2021. "The PRISMA 2020 statement: An updated guideline for reporting systematic reviews," PLOS Medicine, Public Library of Science, vol. 18(3), pages 1-15, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. L'Horty, Yannick & Mahmoudi, Naomie & Petit, Pascale & Wolff, François-Charles, 2022. "Is disability more discriminatory in hiring than ethnicity, address or gender? Evidence from a multi-criteria correspondence experiment," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 303(C).
    2. Isaure Delaporte & Hill Kulu, 2024. "Family Formation and Employment Changes Among Descendants of Immigrants in France: A Multiprocess Analysis," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 40(1), pages 1-77, December.
    3. Nesseler, Cornel & Gomez-Gonzalez, Carlos & Parshakov, Petr & Dietl, Helmut, 2023. "Examining discrimination against Jews in Italy with three natural field experiments," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 106(C).
    4. 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).
    5. Kertesi, Gábor & Köllő, János & Szabó, Lajos Tamás & Károlyi, Róbert, 2022. "Hogyan lesz az etnikai előítéletből foglalkoztatási diszkrimináció? A kisvállalatok szerepe [How does ethnic prejudice turn into employment discrimination? The role of small companies]," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(11), pages 1345-1376.
    6. Zanoni, Wladimir & Fabregas, Raissa, 2024. "The Migrant Penalty in Latin America: Experimental Evidence from Job Recruiters," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 13804, Inter-American Development Bank.
    7. Sterkens, Philippe & Dalle, Axana & Wuyts, Joey & Pauwels, Ines & Durinck, Hellen & Baertf, Stijn, 2022. "Homosexuality's Signalling Function in Job Candidate Screening: Why Gay is (Mostly) OK," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1090, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    8. Van Borm, Hannah & Baert, Stijn, 2022. "Diving in the minds of recruiters: What triggers gender stereotypes in hiring?," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1083, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    9. Lippens, Louis & Dalle, Axana & D'hondt, Fanny & Verhaeghe, Pieter-Paul & Baert, Stijn, 2023. "Understanding ethnic hiring discrimination: A contextual analysis of experimental evidence," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    10. Rinne, Ulf & Sonnabend, Hendrik & Wolters, Leonie, 2023. "Customer Discrimination and Ethnic Team Composition," IZA Discussion Papers 16315, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    11. Dalle, Axana & Lippens, Louis & Baert, Stijn, 2023. "Nothing Really Matters: Evaluating Demand-Side Moderators of Age Discrimination in Hiring," IZA Discussion Papers 16672, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. Van Borm, Hannah & Lippens, Louis & Baert, Stijn, 2022. "An Arab, an Asian, and a Black Guy Walk into a Job Interview: Ethnic Stigma in Hiring after Controlling for Social Class," IZA Discussion Papers 15707, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    13. Baert, Stijn & Herregods, Jolien & Sterkens, Philippe, 2024. "What does job applicants’ body art signal to employers?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 217(C), pages 742-755.
    14. 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).
    15. Schaerer, Michael & du Plessis, Christilene & Nguyen, My Hoang Bao & van Aert, Robbie C.M. & Tiokhin, Leo & Lakens, Daniël & Giulia Clemente, Elena & Pfeiffer, Thomas & Dreber, Anna & Johannesson, Mag, 2023. "On the trajectory of discrimination: A meta-analysis and forecasting survey capturing 44 years of field experiments on gender and hiring decisions," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 179(C).
    16. Moens, Eline & De Pessemier, Dyllis & Baert, Stijn, 2024. "How Do Recruiters Assess Applicants Who Express a Political Engagement?," IZA Discussion Papers 16730, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

    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. Baert, Stijn, 2017. "Hiring Discrimination: An Overview of (Almost) All Correspondence Experiments Since 2005," GLO Discussion Paper Series 61, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    2. Schaerer, Michael & du Plessis, Christilene & Nguyen, My Hoang Bao & van Aert, Robbie C.M. & Tiokhin, Leo & Lakens, Daniël & Giulia Clemente, Elena & Pfeiffer, Thomas & Dreber, Anna & Johannesson, Mag, 2023. "On the trajectory of discrimination: A meta-analysis and forecasting survey capturing 44 years of field experiments on gender and hiring decisions," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 179(C).
    3. Gaddis, S. Michael, 2018. "An Introduction to Audit Studies in the Social Sciences," SocArXiv e5hfc, Center for Open Science.
    4. Van Borm, Hannah & Baert, Stijn, 2022. "Diving in the minds of recruiters: What triggers gender stereotypes in hiring?," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1083, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    5. Lippens, Louis & Dalle, Axana & D'hondt, Fanny & Verhaeghe, Pieter-Paul & Baert, Stijn, 2023. "Understanding ethnic hiring discrimination: A contextual analysis of experimental evidence," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    6. 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).
    7. Baert, Stijn, 2015. "Hiring a Homosexual, Taking a Risk? A Lab Experiment on Employment Discrimination and Risk Aversion," IZA Discussion Papers 9536, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    8. David Neumark, 2018. "Experimental Research on Labor Market Discrimination," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 56(3), pages 799-866, September.
    9. Mladen Adamovic & Andreas Leibbrandt, 2024. "Is there a glass ceiling for ethnic minorities to enter leadership positions? Evidence from a large-scale field experiment with over 12,000 job applications," Monash Economics Working Papers 2024-06, Monash University, Department of Economics.
    10. L'Horty, Yannick & Mahmoudi, Naomie & Petit, Pascale & Wolff, François-Charles, 2022. "Is disability more discriminatory in hiring than ethnicity, address or gender? Evidence from a multi-criteria correspondence experiment," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 303(C).
    11. Mourelatos, Evangelos, 2023. "Does Mood affect Sexual and Gender Discrimination in Hiring Choices? Evidence from Online Experiments," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 106(C).
    12. 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.
    13. Van Borm, Hannah & Burn, Ian & Baert, Stijn, 2021. "What Does a Job Candidate's Age Signal to Employers?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    14. Rich, Judy, 2014. "What Do Field Experiments of Discrimination in Markets Tell Us? A Meta Analysis of Studies Conducted since 2000," IZA Discussion Papers 8584, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    15. Ayaita, Adam, 2021. "Labor Market Discrimination and Statistical Differences in Unobserved Characteristics of Applicants," EconStor Preprints 236615, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    16. Nick Drydakis, 2022. "Sexual orientation discrimination in the labor market against gay men," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 20(3), pages 1027-1058, September.
    17. Stijn Baert & Ann-Sophie De Pauw & Nick Deschacht, 2016. "Do Employer Preferences Contribute to Sticky Floors?," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 69(3), pages 714-736, May.
    18. Drydakis, Nick, 2011. "Roma Women in Athenian Firms: Do They Face Wage Bias?," IZA Discussion Papers 5732, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    19. Hannah Van Borm & Louis Lippens & Stijn Baert, 2022. "An Arab, an Asian, and a Black guy walk into a job interview: ethnic stigma in hiring after controlling for social class," Working Papers of Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Ghent University, Belgium 22/1054, Ghent University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration.
    20. Stijn Baert & Bart Cockx & Niels Gheyle & Cora Vandamme, 2013. "Do Employers Discriminate Less if Vacancies are Difficult to Fill? Evidence from a Field Experiment," CESifo Working Paper Series 4093, CESifo.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    hiring discrimination; unequal treatment; meta-analysis; correspondence experiment; audit study;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J71 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Discrimination - - - Hiring and Firing
    • J23 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Demand
    • J14 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of the Elderly; Economics of the Handicapped; Non-Labor Market Discrimination
    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:zbw:glodps:972. 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: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/glabode.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.