Abstract
Access to the Italian job market is undermined by several kinds of discrimination influencing the opportunities for individuals to obtain a job. In this study, we analyze together the impact of three of the most relevant kinds of discrimination operating in the Italian labor market: gender, race, and weight. Our aim is to assess whether gender and race either increase or decrease the impact of weight-based discrimination. In this respect, we submit a set of fictitious résumés including photos of either obese or thin applicants in response to real online job offers. Our results indicate that the strongest kind of discrimination operating in the Italian labor market is the one connected to the candidate’s geographical origin. Moreover, we find discrimination based on body weight to be more relevant within immigrants than within natives, and gender gap appears to be higher within the obese candidates’ group compared to the normal-weight candidates’ one. This last result is particularly relevant, as the growing rates of obesity forecasted for the next years could in turn produce an increase in the gender gap, which in Italy is already massive.
Highlights
The stereotype of overweight people concerns personality traits and behaviors which distinguish them from normal-weight individuals
We examined weight-based discrimination in the labor market, focusing on the first stage of the hiring process
We sent a total of 1952 fictitious résumés to 244 firms, in response to real job openings; each firm received 8 comparable CVs which matched the advertised requirements, differing only for candidates’ nationality, gender and body weight
Summary
The stereotype of overweight people concerns personality traits and behaviors which distinguish them from normal-weight individuals. They are commonly considered to be lazy, greedy, and selfish; on the other, they are perceived to be fun, loving, generous, and trustworthy (Galper and Weiss 1975) The existence of this stereotype is confirmed by anecdotal reports and casual observation, even if its nature remains empirically vague (Larkin and Pines 1979). Most of the early studies on obesity use BMI (Body Mass Index) to determine whether the labor market penalties for obesity are due to discrimination or health-related reasons. The problem with this kind of measure concerns the impossibility to distinguish between fat and fat-free mass (Burkhauser and Cawley 2008). As we found extremely different call-back rates in between fat and normal-weight versions of the CVs, we are quite confident that employers were not suspicious
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
