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When Correspondence Studies Fail to Detect Hiring Discrimination

Author

Listed:
  • Cahuc, Pierre
  • Carcillo, Stéphane
  • Minea, Andreea
  • Valfort, Marie-Anne
Abstract
Based on a correspondence study conducted in France, we show that fictitious low-skilled applicants in the private sector are half as likely to be called back by the employers when they are of North African rather than French origin. By contrast, the origin of the fictitious applicants does not impact their callback rate in the public sector. We run a survey revealing that recruiters display similarly strong negative discriminatory attitudes towards North Africans in both sectors. We set out a model explaining why differences in discrimination at the stage of invitation for interviews can arise when recruiters display identical discriminatory attitudes in both sectors. The estimation of this model shows that discrimination at the invitation stage is a poor predictor of discrimination at the hiring stage. This suggests that many correspondence studies may fail to detect hiring discrimination and its extent.

Suggested Citation

  • Cahuc, Pierre & Carcillo, Stéphane & Minea, Andreea & Valfort, Marie-Anne, 2019. "When Correspondence Studies Fail to Detect Hiring Discrimination," CEPR Discussion Papers 14028, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:14028
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    Cited by:

    1. Card, David & Colella, Fabrizio & Lalive, Rafael, 2021. "Gender Preferences in Job Vacancies and Workplace Gender Diversity," IZA Discussion Papers 14758, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
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    3. Valfort, Marie-Anne, 2020. "Anti-Muslim discrimination in France: Evidence from a field experiment," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    4. Button, Patrick & Walker, Brigham, 2020. "Employment discrimination against Indigenous Peoples in the United States: Evidence from a field experiment," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    5. David Neumark, 2020. "Age Discrimination in Hiring: Evidence from Age-Blind vs. Non-Age-Blind Hiring Procedures," NBER Working Papers 26623, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Discrimination; Correspondence studies; Public sector;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J45 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Public Sector Labor Markets
    • J70 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Discrimination - - - General
    • J71 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Discrimination - - - Hiring and Firing

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