The State of Hiring Discrimination: A Meta-Analysis of (Almost) All Recent Correspondence Experiments

Louis Lippens, Siel Vermeiren and Stijn Baert
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Siel Vermeiren: Ghent University

No 14966, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

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. 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 ten discrimination grounds upon which unequal treatment in hiring is forbidden under United States federal or state law. Our meta-analysis shows 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 ethnic characteristics. Remarkably, hiring discrimination against older applicants is even more outspoken in Europe than in the United States. Furthermore, unequal treatment in hiring based on sexual orientation seems to be prompted mainly by signalling activism rather than same-sex orientation in itself. Last, aside from a significant decrease in ethnic hiring discrimination in Europe, we find no structural evidence of recent temporal changes in hiring discrimination based on the various other grounds within the scope of this review.

Keywords: meta-analysis; unequal treatment; hiring discrimination; correspondence experiment; audit study (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J14 J15 J16 J23 J71 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 100 pages
Date: 2021-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-exp, nep-lab and nep-lma
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

Published - revised version published in: European Economic Review , 2023, 151, 104315

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Journal Article: The state of hiring discrimination: A meta-analysis of (almost) all recent correspondence experiments (2023)
Working Paper: The state of hiring discrimination: A meta-analysis of (almost) all recent correspondence experiments (2021)
Working Paper: The state of hiring discrimination: A meta-analysis of (almost) all recent correspondence experiments (2021)
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