What Does a Job Candidate's Age Signal to Employers?

Hannah Van Borm (), Ian Burn and Stijn Baert

Labour Economics, 2021, vol. 71, issue C

Abstract: Research has shown that hiring discrimination is a barrier for older job candidates in many OECD countries. However, little research has delved into why these job candidates face discrimination. Therefore, we have conducted an online scenario experiment involving recruiters to empirically investigate 15 potential stigmas related to older age drawn from a systematic review of the literature. We found that older age particularly signals to recruiters that the applicant has lower technological skills, flexibility, and trainability levels. Together, these perceptions explain about 41% of the effect of age on the probability of being invited to a job interview. Additionally, we found that the negative association between age and the invitation to interview probability is smaller when recruiters work for firms with a higher percentage of older employees.

Keywords: hiring; statistical discrimination; age; stereotypes (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J14 J23 J24 J71 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (18)

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Related works:
Working Paper: What Does a Job Candidate's Age Signal to Employers? (2019)
Working Paper: What Does a Job Candidate’s Age Signal to Employers? (2019)
Working Paper: What Does a Job Candidate’s Age Signal to Employers? (2019)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:labeco:v:71:y:2021:i:c:s0927537121000385

DOI: 10.1016/j.labeco.2021.102003

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