Does Hiring Discrimination Cause Gender Segregation in the Swedish Labor Market?

Abstract

This paper studies gender discrimination at hiring in the Swedish labor market. It examines data compiled from an experiment conducted in 2005–6 in which two qualitatively identical applications, one with a woman's name on it and the other with a man's name, were sent to employers advertising positions in Stockholm and Gothenburg (the two largest labor markets in Sweden). The study adds to previous international field experiments by providing additional analysis of the Swedish labor market to determine whether hiring discrimination is a primary cause of occupational gender segregation. The results show that, on average, women have a somewhat higher callback rate to interview in female-dominated occupations, while in male-dominated occupations there is no evidence of gender difference. These findings suggest that the bulk of the prevailing gender segregation in Sweden cannot be explained by discrimination in hiring.