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This article deals with the impact of ethnic origin on individual employability, focussing on the first stage of the hiring process. Deeply, the authors’ goal is to fathom whether there is a preference for native job candidates over immigrants, decomposing the discrimination against minority groups into its statistical and taste-based components by means of a new approach.

The authors built up a data set by means of an ad hoc field experiment, conducted by sending equivalent fictitious CVs in response to 1000 real online job openings in Italy. The authors developed the discrimination decomposition index using first- and second-generation immigrants.

The authors’ main result is that both first- and second-generation immigrants are discriminated compared to Italians. In between the two categories, second-generation candidates are discriminated especially if their ethnicities are morphologically different from those of natives (i.e. Chinese and Moroccans). This last finding is a clear symptom of discrimination connected to taste-based reasons. On the other hand, first-generation immigrants of all nationalities but Germans are preferred for hard-work jobs.

The authors develop the discrimination decomposition index to measure the proportion of the two kinds of discrimination (statistical and taste-based) over the total one and apply a probit model to test the statistical significance of the difference in treatment between the three groups of natives, first-generation and second-generation immigrants.

In this article we consider the question of discrimination against black workers and female workers. We do not discuss the issue of discrimination as it applies within the ranks of white males. Analysis of the relationship between earnings and schooling would suggest that discrimination against this latter group mainly takes the form of unequal opportunity in the acquisition of schooling—that is, it occurs prior to labour market entry rather than within the market. Our focus upon blacks and female workers may be justified on the grounds that discrimination against such groups is said to be considerably more widespread. Our analysis is also restricted, for reasons of space, to a consideration of differences in earnings and occupations, omitting questions of unemployment.

Purpose – Research has shown that employers often disfavor racial minorities − particularly African Americans − even when whites and minorities present comparable resumes when applying for jobs. Extant studies have been hard pressed to distinguish between taste-based discrimination where employers' racial animus is the key motivation for their poor treatment of minorities and variants of statistical discrimination where there is no assumption at all of racial animus on the part of the employer. This chapter proposes a test of these theories by observing whether employers use employee referrals as a “cheap” source of information to help assess applicant quality.Methodology/approach – Unique quantitative data encompassing the entire pool of 987 candidates interviewed by one company in the western United States during a 13-month period are used to test our arguments.Findings – We find that employers in this setting are making use of the cheap information available to them: Consistent with statistical discrimination theory, minority referrals are more likely to receive a job offer than non-referred minority applicants, and are not disfavored relative to referred whites.Originality/value of the chapter – Both statistical and taste-based theories of discrimination propose similar observable outcomes (lower rates of disfavored minority hiring). While different mental processes are being invoked by taste-based and statistical discrimination theories, the theories are extremely difficult to distinguish in terms of observable behaviors. Especially for the purpose of designing legal remedies and labor market policies to ameliorate the disparate treatment of minority groups, differentiating between these theories is a high priority.

Starts out with a survey of various formal theories that have focused on discrimination in the labor market. Argues that Becker’s traditional taste for discrimination model, the various statistical discrimination models and the new cultural communication cost models ultimately yield analytically and observationally equivalent predictions. In particular, these models all imply that we may find occupational segregation across firms. This, in turn, suggests that it is not easy to identify the true causes of discriminatory wage differentials in the labor market and thus that we may have a very hard time sorting out which of these models applies best. Finally, speculates, in the context of Kremer’s model of economic growth, about how changing technologies and structure of production could possibly exacerbate the inequalities predicted by these models of discrimination in the labor market.

Sexual orientation and employment bias is examined in Cyprus by implementing an experiment for the period 2010-2011. The design is aimed at answering three main questions. Do gay males and lesbians face occupational access constraints and entry wage bias than comparable heterosexuals? Do gay males and lesbians benefit from providing more job-related information? Does the differential treatment between gay male/lesbian and heterosexual applicants disappear as the information of the applicants increases? The paper aims to discuss these issues.

The author sent applications to advertised vacancies and experimented with two information sets the “sexual orientation” and “information” of the potential applicants.

The estimations suggest that gay male and lesbian applicants face significant bias than heterosexual applicants. Moreover, both heterosexual and gay male/lesbian applicants gain by providing more job-related information. However, the estimations suggest that the informational premium for sexual orientation minorities could not reduce the discriminatory patterns.

The current results indicate that discrimination against sexual orientation minorities in the Cypriot labour market is a matter of preference, not the result of limited information. One strategy the Cypriot government may employ is to try to affect public opinion and people's attitudes towards sexual orientation minorities.

This is the first nationwide field experiment in the Cypriot labour market and contributes to the literature as it is the first field study on sexual orientation which tries to disentangle statistical from taste-based discrimination in the labour market.

Employment discrimination persists across global labour markets inflicting considerable social and economic costs. The existing literature tends to focus on explaining and measuring discrimination or on the measures to tackle it, overlooking the links between these areas. The paper contributes to filling this gap in order to inform policy design and empirical research on the impact of anti-discrimination policies.

The paper assesses the potential effectiveness of commonly used policy measures in tackling the types of discrimination described in the theoretical literature. The assessment is based on the underlying incentive structure of particular policies, which is matched with the behaviour of employers predicted by particular theories.

The potential effectiveness of commonly used anti-discrimination policies varies greatly depending on the source of discrimination and the target group. Some commonly used tools, such as wage subsidies are likely to have modest effects for several target groups, while employer counselling may be a more effective and cheaper alternative in many cases. Quotas may be effective against various types of discrimination, but setting them is challenging and they may yield adverse effects.

The findings call for more research on and consideration of the motives behind employment discrimination in the targeting and design of anti-discrimination measures.

The authors propose a framework to link discrimination types with measures against discrimination and potential target groups, which allows for systematically linking the literature on theories of discrimination and research on anti-discrimination.

The study examines whether age intersects with gender and race during the initial stage of the hiring process and affects access to vacancies outcomes and wage sorting.

In order to answer the research question, the study collects data from four simultaneous field experiments in England. The study compares the labour market outcomes of younger White British men with those of older White British men and women, and with those of older Black British men and women. The study concentrates on low-skilled vacancies in hospitality and sales in the private sector.

The results of this study indicate that older White British men and women, as well as older Black British men and women, experience occupational access constraints and are sorted into lower-paid jobs than younger White British men. The level of age discrimination is found to be higher for Black British men and women. In addition, Black British women experience the highest level of age discrimination. These patterns may well be in line with prejudices against racial minority groups and stereotypical sexist beliefs that the physical strengths and job performance of women decline earlier than those do for men.

If prejudices against older individuals are present, then anti-discrimination legislation may be the appropriate response, especially for racial minorities and women. Eliminating age discrimination in selection requires firms to adopt inclusive human resources (HR) policies at the earliest stages of the recruitment process.

This research presents for the first-time comparisons of access to vacancies and wage sorting between younger male racial majorities and older male racial majorities, older female racial majorities, older male racial minorities, and older female racial minorities. In addition, the driven mechanism of the assigned differences is explored. Because the study has attempted to minimise the negative employer stereotypes vis-à-vis older employees, with respect to the employees' motivation, productivity, and health, such prejudices against older individuals may be considered taste-based discrimination.

Presents a brief overview of some recent analytical developments in the economic analysis of discrimination. Discusses a range of theoretical issues and reviews recent empirical evidence.

Using Becker's ‘taste for discrimination’ model, the chapter analyzes the current legislation against wage discrimination and finds it counterproductive. Using a costly apparatus of auditing, detecting and fining violators does not deliver results. If a fine is levied on discriminators and reimbursed to the disadvantaged workers in order to undo the discrimination, it affects equally the demand for and the supply of those workers, because their expected wage includes the fine, and has no real effect. If the fine is collected and kept by the government, it shifts employment away from the workers it seeks to help, to others, depressing the total employment. In contrast, levying a tax on the favored workers effectively curbs discrimination in the labor market. A quota is a possible substitute for a tax with questionable side effects. Affirmative action is in essence a sort of tax on employing favored workers, only administered in an indirect, clumsy and costly way. Yet, the chapter explains its humble impact in the right direction. An explicit and direct tax would do much more and with a negative cost. Alternatively, subsidizing the disfavored workers is a costly but as effective policy that, in addition, boosts total employment.