The Effect of Photos and a Local-Sounding Name on Discrimination against Ethnic Minorities in Austria

Doris Weichselbaumer and Julia Schuster
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Julia Schuster: University of Linz

No 14495, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: A large body of research documents the existence of discrimination against migrants and ethnic minorities in the labour market. This study investigates for Austria, to what degree employment discrimination against ethnic minorities is mitigated, when they abstain from following the Austrian norm of including a photograph to their job application that would make their ethnicity salient or when they hold a local sounding name. In our correspondence test, we found that with matching ethnic names and ethnic photographs, black but not Asian job applicants suffered from discrimination. With a local sounding name, blacks (but not Asians) bettered their employment chances. Although photographs may facilitate ethnic discrimination, we did not find that their omission improved minorities' labour market chances. On the contrary, Asians were penalised for leaving out their photograph. Indeed, if candidates did not attach photos despite the convention to do so, we found statistically significant discrimination not only against black, but also Asian applicants.

Keywords: hiring; discrimination; migration; correspondence testing (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C93 J15 J71 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 33 pages
Date: 2021-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-lma, nep-mig, nep-sea, nep-soc and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Published - published in: European Sociological Review, 2021, 37 (6), 867-882

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