Do Employers Discriminate Less if Vacancies are Difficult to Fill? Evidence from a Field Experiment

29 Pages Posted: 12 Feb 2013

See all articles by Stijn Baert

Stijn Baert

Ghent University; University of Antwerp; Catholic University of Louvain (UCL); Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)

Bart Cockx

Ghent University - Department of Economics; Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA); CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute); IRES, Université Catholique de Louvain; ROA Maastricht University

Niels Gheyle

Ghent University

Cora Vandamme

Ghent University

Multiple version iconThere are 3 versions of this paper

Date Written: January 31, 2013

Abstract

We empirically test the relationship between hiring discrimination and labour market tightness at the level of the occupation. To this end, we conduct a correspondence test in the youth labour market. In line with theoretical expectations, we find that, compared to natives, candidates with a foreign sounding name are equally often invited to a job interview if they apply for occupations for which vacancies are difficult to fill, but they have to send twice as many applications for occupations for which labour market tightness is low. Our findings are robust against various sensitivity checks.

Keywords: hiring discrimination, ethnic discrimination, labour market tightness, field experiments

JEL Classification: C930, J150, J210, J240, J420, J710

Suggested Citation

Baert, Stijn and Cockx, Bart L. W. and Gheyle, Niels and Vandamme, Cora, Do Employers Discriminate Less if Vacancies are Difficult to Fill? Evidence from a Field Experiment (January 31, 2013). CESifo Working Paper Series No. 4093, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2214896 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2214896

Stijn Baert (Contact Author)

Ghent University ( email )

University of Antwerp ( email )

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Antwerp, 2000
Belgium

HOME PAGE: http://https://www.uantwerpen.be/nl/personeel/stijn-baert/

Catholic University of Louvain (UCL) ( email )

Place Montesquieu, 3
Louvain-la-Neuve, 1348
Belgium

HOME PAGE: http://https://www.uclouvain.be/en-309318.html

Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) ( email )

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

HOME PAGE: http://www.iza.org/en/webcontent/personnel/photos/index_html?key=6832

Bart L. W. Cockx

Ghent University - Department of Economics ( email )

Ghent, B-9000
Belgium

Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute)

Poschinger Str. 5
Munich, DE-81679
Germany

IRES, Université Catholique de Louvain

Place Montesquieu, 3
Louvain-la-Neuve
Belgium

ROA Maastricht University ( email )

P.O. Box 616
Maastricht, MD6200
Netherlands

Niels Gheyle

Ghent University

Coupure Links 653
Ghent, 9000
Belgium

Cora Vandamme

Ghent University

Coupure Links 653
Ghent, 9000
Belgium

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