Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP14028
Authors: Pierre Cahuc; Stéphane Carcillo; Andreea Minea; Marieanne Valfort
Abstract: Based on a correspondence study conducted in France, we show that fictitiouslow-skilled applicants in the private sector are half as likely to becalled back by the employers when they are of North African rather thanFrench origin. By contrast, the origin of the fictitious applicants does notimpact their callback rate in the public sector. We run a survey revealingthat recruiters display similarly strong negative discriminatory attitudestowards North Africans in both sectors. We set out a model explaining whydifferences in discrimination at the stage of invitation for interviews canarise when recruiters display identical discriminatory attitudes in bothsectors. The estimation of this model shows that discrimination at theinvitation stage is a poor predictor of discrimination at the hiring stage.This suggests that many correspondence studies may fail to detect hiringdiscrimination and its extent.
Keywords: discrimination; correspondence studies; public sector
JEL Codes: J45; J70; J71
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Ethnic origin (J15) | Callback rates in private sector (J39) |
| North African applicants (J15) | Callback rates in private sector (J39) |
| French origin applicants (J61) | Callback rates in private sector (J39) |
| Ethnic origin (J15) | Callback rates in public sector (J45) |
| Discriminatory attitudes (J71) | Hiring discrimination in public sector (J78) |
| Discrimination at invitation stage (J71) | Hiring discrimination (J71) |