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Do Employer Preferences Contribute to Sticky Floors?

Author

Listed:
  • Stijn Baert
  • Ann-Sophie De Pauw
  • Nick Deschacht
Abstract
The authors investigate the importance of employer preferences in explaining sticky floors, the pattern in which women are less likely, as compared to men, to start to climb the job ladder. The authors perform a randomized field experiment in the Belgian labor market and test whether hiring discrimination based on gender is heterogeneous by whether jobs imply a promotion (compared to the applicants’ current position). The findings show that women receive 33% fewer interview invitations when they apply for jobs that imply a first promotion at the functional level. By contrast, the results show that their hiring chances are not significantly affected by the authority level of the job.

Suggested Citation

  • Stijn Baert & Ann-Sophie De Pauw & Nick Deschacht, 2016. "Do Employer Preferences Contribute to Sticky Floors?," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 69(3), pages 714-736, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:ilrrev:v:69:y:2016:i:3:p:714-736
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    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    gender discrimination; hiring discrimination; labor market transitions; European labor markets; sticky floors;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J71 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Discrimination - - - Hiring and Firing
    • M51 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Personnel Economics - - - Firm Employment Decisions; Promotions
    • J41 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Labor Contracts
    • C93 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Field Experiments

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