Physical Disability and Labor Market Discrimination: Evidence from a Field Experiment

Charles Bellemare (), Marion Goussé, Guy Lacroix and Steeve Marchand
Additional contact information
Charles Bellemare: Université Laval

No 11461, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: We investigate the determinants and extent of labor market discrimination toward people with physical disabilities using a large scale field experiment. Applications were randomly sent to 1477 private firms advertising open positions. We find that average callback rates of disabled and non-disabled applicants are respectively 14.4% and 7.2%. We find this differential does not result from accessibility constraints related to firm infrastructures. We also find that mentioning eligibility to a government subsidy to cover the cost of workplace adaptation does not increase callback rates. Finally, we estimate that a lower bound of the proportion of discriminating firms is 49.7%.

Keywords: disabilities; partial identification; discrimination (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J68 J71 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 28 pages
Date: 2018-04
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-exp, nep-hea and nep-lma
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

Published - published in: American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 2023, 15 (4), 452–476

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https://docs.iza.org/dp11461.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: Physical Disability and Labor Market Discrimination: Evidence from a Field Experiment (2018)
Working Paper: Physical Disability and Labor Market Discrimination: Evidence from a Field Experiment (2018)
Working Paper: Physical Disability and Labor Market Discrimination: Evidence from a Field Experiment (2018)
Working Paper: Physical Disability and Labor Market Discrimination: Evidence from a Field Experiment (2017)
Working Paper: Physical Disability and Labor Market Discrimination: Evidence from a Field Experiment (2017)
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