CAFO Working Papers, Centre for Labour Market Policy Research (CAFO), School of Business and Economics, Linnaeus University
No 2010:2:
The Measured Degree of Hiring Discrimination and the Level of Standardization of the Job Applicants´ Qualifications in Field Experiments
Magnus Carlsson ()
Abstract: The idea with using field experiments for measuring
discrimination in hiring is basically making all variables of a job
applicant that are observable to the employer also observable to the
researcher. This in turn should provide scope for measuring the true level
of discrimination in hiring, which is very challenging if traditional ex
post regression analysis of public microdata is used. However, most of the
conducted field experiments have so far ignored that at what level the
observable characteristics of the job candidates are standardized by the
experiment might influence the measured degree of discrimination. In the
current paper, a simple framework is first presented to illustrate the
issue and then data from a field experiment conducted in the Swedish labor
market is utilized to empirically analyze the question. The analysis show
that the predicted difference in callback rate to a job interview between
applicants with a typical Swedish and a typical Arabic name varies
significantly over applications with different attributes attached. The
conclusion is that studies which standardize the characteristics of the job
applicants at a particular level might obtain very non generalizable
results. At the end of the paper, we give some suggestions for how the
field experimental methodology might be improved.
Keywords: field experiment on hiring; employer discrimination; (follow links to similar papers)
JEL-Codes: J64; J71; (follow links to similar papers)
36 pages, October 15, 2010
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