Labor Market Discrimination Research Articles

Inequality and discrimination in the online labor market: A scoping review

Based on a comprehensive set of studies collected via five academic databases, this scoping review examines how inequality and discrimination have been studied in the context of paid online labor. We identify three approaches in the literature that aim to (1) identify participation patterns in (national) survey data, (2) examine background characteristics of online contractors based on survey or digital trace data, and (3) reveal social biases in the hiring process using experimental data. Building on Shaw and Hargittai’s pipeline of participation, we present a multi-stage model of engagement in online labor. When we map the studies across the stages, it becomes clear that the literature focuses on later stages (i.e. having been hired and received payment). Based on this analysis, future research should examine barriers to participation in earlier stages. Furthermore, we advocate for research that examines participation across multiple pipeline stages as well as for analysis of platform-level biases.

Job Characteristics and Labor Market Discrimination in Promotions

Job Characteristics and Labor Market Discrimination in Promotions

Have Housing Prices Affected Residents’ Level of Social Integration?

In recent decades, most cities in China have experienced a large number of population movements, and the local integration of mobile populations has become a new challenge, not only in relation to their own quality of life, but also in relation to the development potential of the cities. While urban housing prices have soared, real estate has gradually become the main economic industry in China, and high housing prices have brought enormous housing pressure to this group. This paper analyzes the negative impact of house prices on social integration by combining labor market discrimination theory.

Cultural Roots of Entrepreneurship: Evidence from Second-Generation Immigrants

Does national culture influence entrepreneurship? Given that entrepreneurship and the economic, formal institutional, and cultural characteristics of nations are deeply intertwined and co-vary, it is difficult to isolate the effect of culture on entrepreneurship. In this study, we examine the self-employment choices of second-generation immigrants who were born, educated, and currently live in one country, but were raised by parents stemming from another country. We argue that entrepreneurship is influenced by durable, portable, and intergenerationally transmitted cultural imprints such that second-generation immigrants are more likely to become entrepreneurs if their parents originate from countries characterized by a strong entrepreneurial culture. Our multilevel analysis of two independent samples—65,323 second-generation immigrants of 52 different ancestries who were born, were raised, and live in the United States and 4,165 second-generation immigrants of 31 ancestries in Europe—shows that entrepreneurial culture is positively associated with the likelihood that individuals are entrepreneurs. Our results are robust to alternative non-cultural explanations, such as differences in resource holdings, labor market discrimination, and direct parent-child linkages. Overall, our study highlights the durability, portability, and intergenerational transmission of entrepreneurial culture as well as the profound impact of national culture on entrepreneurship. Supplemental Material: The online appendix is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2022.1645 .

Marginality, Social Exclusion, Labour Force Participation and Urban Poverty: A Case Study of Lahore, Pakistan

Labour has always been considered as major source of income and livelihood, and the labour market of Pakistan which provides an important source to alleviate poverty and raise the standard of living. The characteristics of labour i.e. age, gender, location, caste and religion makes labour market highly segmented. And these factors often make buyer bias which indeed causes a discrimination and exclusion in labour market. This study tries to investigate the issue of social exclusion which has been faced by marginalised class in labour force participation. While analysing trends of marginalised labour force participation, the role of social networks also take into account. The marginalised labour force has been selected based on religion and gender (minorities, women, transgender) which is the part of formal and informal labour market of the city Lahore, Pakistan. The study use logit modelling to analyse the role of social exclusion and other determinants in labour force participation of marginalised class and also evaluate the role of labour force participation in the poverty status of marginalised households. Results show a strong effect of social exclusion on labour force participation and poverty. Keywords: Social Exclusion, Labour Market Segmentation, Social Network

Gender Discrimination, Competition and Efficiency

The standard literature on discrimination in labour market discusses discrimination-generated inefficiency at the firm level which cannot be sustained under competition. As competition gets intense, firms would be more disciplined and would be forced to refrain from practising discrimination. This forms the core of the pioneering works by Becker (1957) and Arrow (1973). In this article, we argue that when firms are heterogeneous in terms of productivity, some of the more efficient firms can easily survive practising discrimination and only relatively inefficient firms will quit the market. Thus, incentives to discriminate, if any, would be greater for more efficient firms. Once they survive, measured efficiency of the market would, in fact, increase. Thus ironically, discriminating industries would exhibit higher efficiency. This article shows that, in a model with heterogeneous firms, a competitive market system cannot eliminate the problem of discrimination. Thus, competition and discrimination may coexist.

The impact of informal care from children to their elderly parents on self-employment? Evidence from China

China is facing a demographic shift that the proportion of elderly is growing, and providing informal care to elderly people is important in explaining “labor market discrimination”, where reducing willingness to be self-employed is the core. Although earlier studies examined the informal care and labor participation nexus, few analyzed the effects of informal care on self-employment from perspective of opportunity cost and inter-generational support simultaneously. We first develop a theoretical model, predicting that informal care can bring both cost effect and support effect on self-employment. The predictions are then confirmed using dataset collected from Chinese General Social Survey. Particularly, the inhibition of informal care is more pronounced in the group that are women, having a working spouse, living in rural area and having young children. Thus, China needs to take additional steps to overcome the barriers keeping the elderly from enjoying pension assistance.

Assessing the role of gender in hiring: a field experiment on labour market discrimination.

The under-representation of females within the labour market, particularly in managerial roles, has sparked a local and global debate on whether women, mostly mothers, face negative discrimination. This study distinctly adopts a field experiment methodology to investigate the presence of gender discrimination and the motherhood penalty against higher education (Bachelor, Master's, and Doctoral degree) females seeking full-time employment in the labour market at the initial stage of the recruitment process, being the call-back to the interview. This study took place in Malta, which was characterised by a low unemployment figure, complemented by strong economic growth at the time, thus enabling a proper analysis of the possible presence of gender-based discrimination even when labour demand is high. Field experiments were chosen as the methodology. This involved sending pairs of fictitious job applications belonging to two fictional male and female candidates (identical to each other except for the demographic characteristics) in response to job vacancies. Then, the employers' behaviour was recorded to assess whether they engaged in discriminatory practices. The analysis of the replies through the use of econometric models shows that there is no statistically significant evidence that employers engage in discrimination at the call-back stage of the recruitment process. Furthermore, during this distribution period, no particular age class was favoured or discriminated against, a finding that contradicts the idea that young female workers are discriminated against due to their maternal responsibilities. Such a study contributes to the growing literature on the subject, by being the first study done in Malta to scientifically test whether the significant gender employment gap present in various industries in Malta is attributed to negative discrimination against women or mothers with young children.

Research on the Influence of Labor Contract on the Urban Integration of Migrant Workers: Empirical Analysis Based on China's Micro Data.

Using the micro data of the China Labor Dynamics Survey (CLDS), this paper uses factor analysis to construct urban integration indicators and uses the OLS model and intermediary effect model to study the urban integration of 1976 migrant workers in 29 cities in China. This paper empirically analyzes the impact of labor contracts on migrant workers’ urban integration and its mechanism. The study found that: (1) labor contract can significantly promote the urban integration of migrant workers. Further, this conclusion is still tenable after correcting endogenous bias with the 2SLS model and performing a series of robustness tests. (2) Signing labor contracts increases the participation rate of migrant workers in various insurances, enhances the social security level of migrant workers, alleviates the discrimination in the urban labor market, and thus enhances the urban integration of migrant workers. (3) The results of the heterogeneity tests show that the labor contract has a greater impact on the urban integration of the new generation, married and public sector of migrant workers compared with the old generation, unmarried and private sector of migrant workers. Therefore, this paper makes the following suggestions: the government should strengthen labor market supervision, encourage employers to sign long-term labor contracts with migrant workers, improve the social security system for migrant workers, and protect the legitimate rights and interests of migrant workers.

The Effect of Intersectional Discrimination in Labor Market on Adult Worker’s Work-Family Balance Difficulty: : Focusing on the Role of Job Burnout

본 연구는 노동시장 내에서 발생하는 교차적인 특성을 지닌 다양한 차별경험이 국내에 거주 중인 성인노동자의 일가정 양립 어려움에 미치는 영향과 그 사이에서 직무소진의 매개효과를 살펴보는 데 목적이 있다. 이를 위해 산업안전보건연구원의 제6차 근로환경조사 원시사료를 활용하여 차별경험이 있는 성인노동자 2,690명을 연구대상으로 선정하였다. 이후 SPSS와 PROCESS macro를 통해 빈도분석, 기술통계, 일원배치 분산분석, 상관관계분석, 회귀분석을 실시하였고, 이에 따른 주요 연구결과는 다음과 같다. 첫째, 노동자들은 차별의 교차성이 가산될수록 직무소진과 일가정 양립 어려움의 평균이 증가하는 양상을 보였다. 둘째, 노동시장 내 차별의 교차성은 일가정 양립의 어려움과 직무소진에 각각 유의미한 정적인 영향을 미쳤다. 셋째, 노동자들의 직무소진은 일가정 양립의 어려움에 유의미한 정적인 영향을 미쳤을 뿐만 아니라, 노동시장 내 차별의 교차성과 일가정 양립의 어려움을 부분적으로 매개하는 것으로 확인되었다. 이에 성인노동자의 일가정 양립 어려움을 해소하기 위한 방안을 교차적인 특성에 기반을 둔 차별이라는 새로운 시각으로 제언하였다.

Does the size of foreign population in a city affect the level of labour-market discrimination against job applicants of migrant origin?

Based on a correspondence experiment, this article examines if the size of population of foreign background in a city exerts any significant effect on the extent of labour-market discrimination faced by job applicants of migrant origin. The study results find neither any statistically significant relationship between the two, nor do they lend support to the group threat and group contact conceptual frameworks. Rather, they appear to corroborate the pure discrimination model, as discrimination seems to be uniformly spread over all cities and all types of jobs with different characteristics. However, the findings of this study do not exclude the possibility that there could be a threshold value in the share of foreign population after which the picture of discrimination would become richer in nuances and some of the theories would gain more explanatory power.

Labor Market Discrimination and Sorting: Evidence From South Africa

Abstract This paper collects a unique data set of classified ads and exploits quasi-random variation in the applicant pool composition to show that there exists hiring discrimination against immigrants in South Africa’s informal sector. Consistent with a tournament models in which immigrants are penalised, I find that both immigrant and native job seekers receive more employer clicks on their profile when being pooled with immigrant job applicants. Results also show that immigrants search further away, especially if they live in areas with high employer discrimination. This spatial sorting presents an important cost of discrimination that has largely been ignored in the literature.

Information and the Gender Gap in the Market for Top Managers: Evidence from a Quasi-Experiment

This study examines the role of information on the gender gap in the executive labor market from the market frictions perspective. We examine whether increases in objective and reliable information about managerial quality improve the promotion rates of women managers. To obtain exogenous variation in the availability of information, we exploit a natural experiment provided by the adoption of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) in 2005 by the European Union countries. Consistent with statistical discrimination theory, we find that when performance information is more available and reliable, the promotion rates of women executives almost double. These increases are driven by both internal and external promotions. However, the gains in advancement rates are dampened in regions where societal views on women in the workplace are less favorable. This study rectifies the data and empirical challenges in identifying sources of discrimination in the executive labor market and offers implications for theory development and firm policy.

Entrepreneurship and Employment at Startups for People with Disabilities

Around the world, people with disabilities (PWDs) face discrimination in the labor market. In this paper, we examine whether entrepreneurship and wage employment at startups provide PWDs with attractive alternatives to pursuing wage employment at large and incumbent firms. Using the economic theory of occupational choice, we hypothesize that the existence of labor market discrimination will push PWDs into pursuing entrepreneurship or joining startups as wage employees, and that the wage penalty that PWDs face will be smaller in these occupations compared to wage employment at large and incumbent firms. Using data from the National Survey of College Graduates, we find that while PWDs are more likely to pursue entrepreneurship or join startups, the main reason for doing so is likely to be to enjoy the non-pecuniary benefits of pursuing entrepreneurship (or working for a startup) as opposed to the pecuniary benefits.

Beauty is in the eye of the employer: Labor market discrimination of accountants.

This research investigates labor market discrimination based on physical appearance in Israel’s Certified Public Accountant firms. Using a survey questionnaire, we showed that accountants in managerial positions prefer to hire more physically attractive candidates. This beauty premium is larger among the five biggest Certified Public Accountant firms and can be explained by the perception that attractive candidates possess essential traits for becoming successful accountants. An important implication of our results is that even among accounting firms, where professionalism is well defined, discrimination against candidates based on traits such as physical appearance can ineffectively eliminate suitably qualified interns.

How much between‐group wage gaps can be explained by talent allocation frictions in China?

AbstractWhat explains huge wage gaps between different hukou and gender groups in China? This paper uses an overlapping generation model with human capital investment and occupational choices to quantify how much wage gaps between these groups can be imputed to two types of talent allocation frictions, labor market discrimination, and human capital accumulation barriers. The calibrated model indicates that the two types of talent allocation frictions can explain a significant proportion (four‐fifths, one‐third, and three‐fifths) of the wage gap between each non‐urban‐men group (urban women, rural men, and rural women) and urban men in 2013. Our counterfactual exercise also shows that eliminating these two frictions since 1995 would result in about half a percentage point increase in China's economic growth rate between 1995 and 2013.

Navigating uncharted paths to the American professoriate: experiences of immigrant black female faculty

PurposeThis study aims to examine the challenges of immigrant black female faculty (IBFFs) from Africa who have joined the American professoriate and also explore the cognitive processing behind student and staff perception and expectations of immigrant professors of color. This category of scholars faces the intersectional “triple bind” of being females, immigrants and people of color; as a result, they may encounter peculiar challenges in their professional practice. Hence, throwing light on their experiences will help advance robust supportive systems that are essential to promoting all-inclusive staff productivity and the internationalization drive of post-secondary institutions.Design/methodology/approachThrough the narrative analysis approach, the authors capitalized on the life histories, perspectives and experiences of eight IBFFs from Africa serving in US universities to offer new insights into this group’s roles, difficulties and triumphs. In-depth interviews that lasted for about 1–2 h per participant were transcribed and key themes were analyzed.FindingsThe authors found that IBBFs face a couple of challenges in their quest to transition and serve in the American professoriate. Some of the identified challenges include labor market discrimination, discounting of academic work and credentials, unfair evaluation, cultural taxation and lack of supportive work environment.Originality/valueWhile previous studies focused on challenges that black female faculty (BFF) face in joining academia, little is known about the academic voyage of IBBFs pursuing careers in higher education. The objective of this study is to address this gap and, by extension, broaden the discourse on equity, diversity and inclusion within the academic landscape.

The Impact of Parental Migration on Offspring’s Education Investment: Evidence from Left-Behind Children in China

Educational investment of families in their children is related to the sustainable development of both individuals and society. This paper uses data from China Family Panel Studies to study the impact of rural parents’ internal migration on education investment in left-behind children in China. The results show that parental internal migration has a significant negative impact on educational investment in left-behind children. The results persisted after further treatment for endogeneity and multiple robustness tests. Mechanism analysis shows that while increasing the family income, rural to urban migration reduces parents’ recognition of children’s education, thus reducing the family’s investment in left-behind children’s education. Heterogeneity analysis reveals that the negative impact of both parents’ going out was the largest, followed by only the father going out, while only the mother going out was no longer significant. The negative effect of inter-provincial out-going is greater than that of intra-provincial out-going. Girls were negatively affected more than boys; middle school students were more affected than primary school students. Our findings suggest it is necessary to further eliminate labor market discrimination caused by household registration and improve educational quality of rural public schools. The lessons learned from China are valuable for other developing countries with large numbers of rural citizens migrating to cities.

Am I better off changing my name to “Alexander”? Ethnic discrimination and its effect on wages in the Russian labor market

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to investigate whether ethnic discrimination is present in the Russian labor market and whether it has a significant economic effect on the potential salaries of applicants.Design/methodology/approachData were collected using a correspondence audit for four experimental male applicants with identical professional and personal characteristics while differing only in applicant name as a signal of applicants' ethnic background. Implied ethnicities include Russians, Armenians, Jews and North Caucasians. Résumés were sent out to 800 real unique vacancies on behalf of the experimental applicants with a geographic focus on the capital Moscow.FindingsThe results of the analysis suggest that there is a significant difference in treatment in both response rate and potential average salaries on ethnic grounds. Disadvantaged groups were found to be systematically pushed into jobs paying 15% less monthly wage.Originality/valueThe study investigates the existence of ethnic discrimination in the Russian labor market and furthermore economically quantifies the effects of discrimination.

Is labour market discrimination against ethnic minorities better explained by taste or statistics? A systematic review of the empirical evidence

ABSTRACT To mitigate ethnic labour market discrimination, it is essential to understand its underlying mechanisms because different mechanisms call for different counteracting measures. To this end, we reviewed the recent literature that confronts the theories of taste-based and statistical discrimination against the empirical reality. Whereas the empirical evidence for both mechanisms is generally mixed, (field) experimental research, which predominantly focuses on hiring outcomes, appears to yield proportionately more evidence in favour of taste-based discrimination vis-à-vis statistical discrimination. This finding suggests that the taste-based mechanism may better explain ethnic discrimination in hiring. However, we also observe that the measurement operationalisations of the mechanisms vary substantially between studies and that alternative theoretical interpretations of some of the evidence are plausible. Taken together, additional research efforts, using clear measurement standards and appropriate synthesis methods, are required to solidify the review’s main finding.