Original title:
Discrimination against workers with visible tattoos: experimental evidence from Germany
Authors:
Jibuti, Daviti Document type: Research reports
Year:
2018
Language:
eng Series:
CERGE-EI Working Paper Series, volume: 628 Abstract:
We use a correspondence testing approach to study discrimination against applicants with visible tattoos in the German labor market. The method has been widely employed in discrimination literature, however, the majority of papers examine objects of discrimination that are exogenously given (gender, race, ethnicity, etc.). The design of our experiment allows us to study the extent of discrimination against choice-based characteristics. We send fictitious applications to online job postings in the banking sector. Otherwise identical applications differ only in the picture attached: in the treatment group the applicants have a visible tattoo. The\nextent of discrimination is measured by the difference in callback rates. We find that candidates without visible tattoos have, on average, a 13 percentage point higher callback rate, or an increase in the callback rate of 54%. Following Akerlof and Kranton (2000), our results once more highlight the centrality of identity.
Keywords:
field experiment; labor market discrimination; visible tattoo