Pairs of carefully-matched, written applications were made to advertised job vacancies in England to test for sexual discrimination in hiring. Two standard résumés were constructed for each occupation to control for all relevant supply-side variables, such as qualifications, experience and age. Consequently any differential response recorded can be attributed to demand-side discrimination. Statistically significant discrimination against men was found in the `female occupation' - secretary, and against women in the `male occupation' - engineer. Statistically significant, and unprecedented, discrimination against men was found in two `mixed occupations' - trainee chartered accountant and computer analyst programmer.
Ces dix dernières années, nombreux ont été les ouvrages publiés traitant de discrimination, mise en lumière par des tests menés par des couples de faux candidats à des emplois, des logements, ou des transactions commerciales. Cependant, aucune justification détaillée n'a été avancée pour la duperie liée à ces tests. Le manque général de véracité de l'économie de marché, le dommage social occasionné par une quelconque discrimination ainsi que la précision de cette technique justifient le fait de tromper les sujets de ces tests. Le fait de tromper les testeurs par contre peut leur nuire, est contraire à l'éthique des psychologues et sociologues, et est de plus superflu. En effet, il existe des procédures alternatives qui permettent de gérer les effets de l'expérience. Copyright WWZ and Helbing & Lichtenhahn Verlag AG 2004.
Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. Terms of use: Documents in An Experimental Investigation of Age Discrimination in the English Labor MarketPeter A. Riach Judith Rich The Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in Bonn is a local and virtual international research center and a place of communication between science, politics and business. IZA is an independent nonprofit company supported by Deutsche Post World Net. The center is associated with the University of Bonn and offers a stimulating research environment through its research networks, research support, and visitors and doctoral programs. IZA engages in (i) original and internationally competitive research in all fields of labor economics, (ii) development of policy concepts, and (iii) dissemination of research results and concepts to the interested public. D I S C U S S I O N P A P E R S E R I E SIZA Discussion Papers often represent preliminary work and are circulated to encourage discussion. Citation of such a paper should account for its provisional character. A revised version may be available directly from the author. ABSTRACT An Experimental Investigation of Age Discrimination in the English Labor MarketCarefully-matched pairs of written job applications were made to test for age discrimination in hiring. A twenty-one year-old and a thirty-nine year-old woman applied for jobs where a "new graduate" was sought; men aged twenty-seven and forty-seven, inquired about employment as waiters; women aged twenty-seven and forty-seven, inquired about employment in retail sales. The rate of net discrimination against the older graduate, and against the older waiters in their London inquiries, correspond to the highest rates ever recorded anywhere, by written tests, for racial discrimination. There was a statistically significant preference for the older applicant in retail sales.JEL Classification: J71, C93
T h e technique 0 1 acquiring inforination to test economic hypothesis by posing as a market transactor has existed lor many years. lung (1960. 1961. 1962. 1963) used the procc,dure of posing as a prospective purchaser t o obtain information about t h e pricing bchaviour (it' sellers 0 1 cars. mobile homes, instalment credit a n d honie~remodclling. in a scries of articles published in t h e /orr~rrol of Brrsiriess. However it has been i-arc tor this cspcrimcntal technique i o be applied in t h e labour market. .A noteworthy innovation was made by ]owell a n d I'rcscott-Clarke (1970). They devised the tcchniquc OF "correspoiidence testing" as i i method for assessing the incidcncc of racial discrimination in the British labour marltct. 'This technique involved sending carel'ully matched pairs oi written iub applications in responsc to advertised vacancies. O n e letter purported to be I'rom ;I white British applicant a n d t h e other purported to be from a coloured immigrant. The same method W; I S used subscqueritly by Mclntosh a n d Smith ( 197.1) in a n investigation published by the British rcwarch organisation Political a n d Economic Planning. They were also concerned with testing t h c extent ol'racial discrimination in t h c British labour marlcct. W h a t w e have dcne is to use this experimental technique t o gain s o m e insight into thc extent of sexiiiil discriiniiiation in the labour niarket; taking Victoria as o u r gcographical area of study. Equal employment opportunity legislation was first passcd by the State A projcct such ;is this iiivolvd i h c cooperation of inany peuple Kcith Fiearson. Bill Mitclicxll and M a r t i n Watts provided traditional aciidciiiic aclviccaiid coniiiieiitarv Stewart J o y , Esther l
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