Trends in Racial Discrimination in Hiring in Six Countries in Europe and North America, 1968-2016

• In Event: 4144 - Emerging Frontiers in Research on Discrimination

Abstract

We compare levels of racial discrimination in hiring over time across six countries: Canada, France, Great Britain, Netherlands, Sweden, and the US. To assess temporal trends in discrimination, we combine evidence from 85 field experimental studies of hiring discrimination, encompassing more than 170,000 fictitious applications for jobs. Our results indicate that discrimination in hiring has not declined over the past four decades. Across countries, minority groups, and controlling for a number of study attributes, the results suggest that levels of discrimination have remained relatively unchanged during the periods analyzed. However, one exception is there is some evidence that discrimination against blacks/Africans in France has declined since the early 1970s, although it remains high in recent years. We find no evidence of increased employment discrimination in Europe against immigrants from Muslim-majority countries since 2001. These findings suggest that employment discrimination against minority groups reflects stable sentiments that have not changed much despite notable changes in attitudes, demographics, and the legal environment. Employment discrimination appears to be relatively distinct from political attitudes toward minorities and immigrants.

Authors

• Lincoln G. Quillian, Northwestern University

• John J. Lee, Northwestern University