Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP7913
Authors: Alison Booth; Andrew Leigh; Elena Varganova
Abstract: We conduct a large-scale audit discrimination study to measure labor market discrimination across different minority groups in Australia -- a country where one quarter of the population was born overseas. To denote ethnicity, we use distinctively Anglo-Saxon, Indigenous, Italian, Chinese, and Middle Eastern names, and our goal is a comparison across multiple ethnic groups rather than focusing on a single minority as in most other studies. In all cases, we applied for entry-level jobs and submitted a CV showing that the candidate had attended high school in Australia. We find economically and statistically significant differences in callback rates, suggesting that ethnic minority candidates would need to apply for more jobs in order to receive the same number of interviews. These differences vary systematically across groups, with Italians (a more established migrant group) suffering less discrimination than Chinese and Middle Easterners (who have typically arrived more recently). We also explore various explanations for our empirical findings.
Keywords: discrimination; employment; field experiments
JEL Codes: C93; J71
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Ethnic-sounding names (J15) | Callback rates (E43) |
| Indigenous applicants (J15) | Callback rates (E43) |
| Chinese applicants (C00) | Callback rates (E43) |
| Italian applicants (J69) | Callback rates (E43) |
| Middle Eastern applicants (J15) | Callback rates (E43) |
| Indigenous applicants (J15) | Number of applications needed (C88) |
| Chinese applicants (C00) | Number of applications needed (C88) |
| Italian applicants (J69) | Number of applications needed (C88) |
| Middle Eastern applicants (J15) | Number of applications needed (C88) |