An Experimental Investigation of Age Discrimination in the English Labor Market

Peter Riach () and Judith Rich

No 3029, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: Carefully-matched pairs of written job applications were made to test for age discrimination in hiring. A twenty-one year-old and a thirty-nine year-old woman applied for jobs where a “new graduate” was sought; men aged twenty-seven and forty-seven, inquired about employment as waiters; women aged twenty-seven and forty-seven, inquired about employment in retail sales. The rate of net discrimination against the older graduate, and against the older waiters in their London inquiries, correspond to the highest rates ever recorded anywhere, by written tests, for racial discrimination. There was a statistically significant preference for the older applicant in retail sales.

Keywords: discrimination; employment; hiring; age; field experiment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C93 J71 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 37 pages
Date: 2007-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-age, nep-exp and nep-lab
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (16)

Published - published in: Annales d'Economie et de Statistique, 2010, 99-100, 169-186

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Journal Article: An Experimental Investigation of Age Discrimination in the English Labor Market (2010)
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