Ethnic discrimination in hiring decisions: A meta-analysis of correspondence tests 1990–2015

Eva Zschirnt and Didier Ruedin

EconStor Preprints from ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics

Abstract: For almost 50 years field experiments have been used to study ethnic and racial discrimination in hiring decisions, consistently reporting high rates of discrimination against minority applicants - including immigrants -, irrespective of time, location, or minority groups tested. While Riach and Rich (2002) and Rich (2014) provide systematic reviews of existing field experiments, no study has undertaken a meta-analysis to examine the findings in the studies reported. In this article we present a meta-analysis of 730 correspondence tests in 42 separate studies conducted in OECD countries between 1990 and 2015. In addition to summarizing research findings, we focus on subgroups to ascertain the robustness of findings, emphasizing differences across countries, gender, and economic contexts. Moreover we test hypotheses with regard to taste-based and statistical discrimination. To this end, we draw on the fact that the groups considered in correspondence tests and the contexts of testing vary to some extent. We focus on first- and second generation immigrants, differences between specific minority groups, the implementation of EU directives, and the length of job application packs. There are many indications that ethnic discrimination in hiring decisions reflects taste-based discrimination, although in some cases statistical discrimination seems to occur.

Keywords: ethnic discrimination; hiring; correspondence test; meta-analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J15 J22 J61 J7 J71 M51 O15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (100)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:esprep:142176

DOI: 10.10800/133693183X.20105.11303279

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