Looking the Part? How Candidates’ Race and Attire Shape Employer Hiring Decisions

• In Event: 40426 - What's the Difference? Exploring Mechanisms that Create and Maintain Inequality

Abstract

Racial disparities in employment persist in the United States, particularly in low-wage labor markets. While employers often attribute these disparities to differences in job seekers’ self-presentation—particularly attire—we argue that this explanation obscures demand-side biases. Drawing on labor market discrimination and status characteristics theories, we argue that professional attire acts as a proxy for unobservable worker qualities and that racial stereotypes distort how these signals are interpreted. White candidates might benefit more from professional attire, whereas Black candidates receive weaker returns from employers. To test this argument, we conduct the first large-scale empirical analysis of candidates’ attire and hiring outcomes using a mobile gig-staffing platform (Jobmate), which includes 1,032,496 job applications for 60,636 job seekers, along with their profile photos. Our findings reveal that although professional attire improves hiring outcomes for both Black and White candidates, the effect is significantly weaker for Black job seekers, exacerbating racial hiring disparities. A controlled experiment further demonstrates that professional attire disproportionately benefits White candidates. These findings challenge the prevailing belief that self-presentation strategies can mitigate racial disparities. Our findings suggest that closing racial hiring gaps in low-wage labor markets requires cultural changes in hiring practices rather than individual-level adjustments by job seekers.

Authors

• Tiantian Yang, Wharton, University of Pennsylvania

• Ming D. Leung, University of California-Irvine