Age Discrimination in Hiring: An Experimental Study

Abstract

This article presents the findings of the first field experiment — a resume correspondence study — on age discrimination in the Russian labor market. Correspondence studies are nowadays viewed as the most objective way to test for hiring discrimination. This method consists of sending pairs of CVs for job offers, very similar in everything except the trait to be analyzed (age in our case). Data collection for the presented study was conducted in February—March 2018. Pairs of matched applications, one from a fictitious 29-year-old female applicant and one from afictitious 48-year-old female applicant, were sent to 341 employers with job openings for accountants in Moscow, posted on one of the most popular job search websites. It turned out that the probability of receiving an invitation for an interview for an older candidate is 24–32%, whereas for a younger candidate it is 45–52%. Thus, the positive callback ratio is 1.8–2.5. The indicator of “net discrimination”, calculated as the difference in the shares of positive callbacks in the number of vacancies for which at least one response has been received, is 37–49% for the younger and older candidates. Compared with the results of the existing studies, it turns out that the obtained discrimination level is quite high. Taking into account the population aging, a reduction in the workforce and an increase in the official retirement age, measures must be taken to combat age discrimination and allow older people to work on an equal basis with young people.