Gender discrimination in hiring: An experimental reexamination of the Swedish case.

Ali Ahmed,Mark Granberg,Shantanu Khanna,Stijn Baert

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0245513

Ali Ahmed, Mark Granberg + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0245513

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Journal: PloS one	Publication Date: Jan 29, 2021
Citations: 8	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Linköping University, University of California, Irvine

Abstract

We estimated the degree of gender discrimination in Sweden across occupations using a correspondence study design. Our analysis of employer responses to more than 3,200 fictitious job applications across 15 occupations revealed that overall positive employer response rates were higher for women than men by almost 5 percentage points. We found that this gap was driven by employer responses in female-dominated occupations. Male applicants were about half as likely as female applicants to receive a positive employer response in female-dominated occupations. For male-dominated and mixed occupations we found no significant differences in positive employer responses between male and female applicants.

Highlights

Large differences between the occupational structures of men and women exist, even in developed and progressive countries
According to the Global Gender Gap Report 2020 published by the World Economic Forum [2], Sweden ranks fourth of 153 countries on the Global Gender Gap index
Using data from over 3,200 fictitious job applications sent to employers across 15 occupations, we found that women had higher positive employer response rates than men on average, with this difference being driven by female-dominated occupations

Summary

Introduction

Large differences between the occupational structures of men and women exist, even in developed and progressive countries. Occupational gender segregation is a persistent feature of labor markets, and accounts for a considerable portion of the wage gap [1]. Data from Statistics Sweden show that labor force participation rates for women in 2019 stood at 82.3 percent, only slightly lower than that of men at 85.9 percent. Even in Sweden, the gender wage gap persists, with estimates of the unadjusted gender gap in the range of 12 to 20 percent [3, 4]. Differences in occupation structures are estimated to account for more than half of this wage gap [5]. Hiring discrimination is one potential channel that can limit progress on the path to more equal gender distributions within occupations and more equal wages

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Conclusion