How Does Labour Market History Influence the Access to Hiring Interviews?

Abstract

We evaluate the effect of labour market history on the current probability to be invited to a hiring interview. We compare the effect of periods of unemployment, part-time job and short-term contracts. Correspondence tests were conducted for accountants and sales assistants. We estimate the discrimination components from the response rate of each candidate by the asymptotic least squares method. We find that men with a part time profile suffer discrimination in both professions. Other differences of treatment are specific: for accountants, we find that the probability of success decreases with the time spent in unemployment, while for for sales assistants the probability of success is smaller with a history of short term contracts.