Working Paper: NBER ID: w30287
Authors: Ian Burn; Daniel Firoozi; Daniel Ladd; David Neumark
Abstract: Correspondence studies have found evidence of age discrimination in callback rates for older workers, but less is known about whether job advertisements can themselves shape the age composition of the applicant pool. We construct job ads for administrative assistant, retail, and security guard jobs, using language from real job ads collected in a prior large-scale correspondence study (Neumark et al., 2019a). We modify the job-ad language to randomly vary whether or not the job ad includes ageist language regarding age-related stereotypes. Our main analysis relies on machine learning methods to design job ads based on the semantic similarity between phrases in job ads and age-related stereotypes. In contrast to a correspondence study in which job searchers are artificial and researchers study the responses of real employers, in our research the job ads are artificial and we study the responses of real job searchers. \nWe find that job-ad language related to ageist stereotypes, even when the language is not blatantly or specifically age-related, deters older workers from applying for jobs. The change in the age distribution of applicants is large, with significant declines in the average and median age, the 75th percentile of the age distribution, and the share of applicants over 40. Based on these estimates and those from the correspondence study, and the fact that we use real-world ageist job-ad language, we conclude that job-ad language that deters older workers from applying for jobs can have roughly as large an impact on hiring of older workers as direct age discrimination in hiring.
Keywords: No keywords provided
JEL Codes: J14; J6; J7; J78
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| ageist language in job advertisements (J71) | application behavior of older workers (J26) |
| ageist language in job advertisements (J71) | average age of applicants (J14) |
| ageist language in job advertisements (J71) | median age of applicants (J11) |
| ageist language in job advertisements (J71) | share of applicants over 40 (J14) |
| ageist language in job advertisements (J71) | overall age distribution of applicants (J11) |
| ageist language in job advertisements (J71) | direct age discrimination in hiring (J71) |