Measuring Labor Market Discrimination: Methodological Advances across Multiple Dimensions of Inequality

Session Submission Type: Invited Session (90 minute)

Description

Discrimination in the labor market remains a major source of inequality across societies. Individuals may experience exclusion or disadvantage based on race, ethnicity, gender, age, health status, disability, or the intersection of these and other identities. Understanding how discrimination operates—and how it is perceived and reported—requires methodological innovation and theoretical sensitivity.

This session brings together research that investigates labor market discrimination using a variety of empirical strategies, including quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods approaches. We particularly welcome contributions that explore how survey instruments, experimental designs, qualitative interviews, and digital ethnography can be used to capture both the prevalence and lived experience of discrimination.

Topics may include (but are not limited to):

Advances in survey-based measurement of employment discrimination;

Experimental and audit studies simulating hiring, promotion, or workplace dynamics;

The role of self-identification and categorization in shaping perceived discrimination;

Longitudinal trends and evolving forms of labor market exclusion;

Qualitative studies capturing the meanings and narratives of workplace discrimination;

Digital ethnographies exploring bias and inequality in online labor platforms, recruitment systems, or professional networks.

By emphasizing methodological pluralism, this session seeks to foster a dialogue between researchers using diverse tools to investigate a shared concern: how discrimination shapes access to work, career trajectories, and economic opportunity.

Sub Unit

• Special Session

Presider

• Maria Gabriella Campolo, University of Messina

Individual Presentations

• Too old to perform: Age discrimination among public sector employees - Letizia Materassi, Università di Firenze; Silvia Pezzoli, Università di Firenze

• Unexpected Discrimination: A digital ethnographic study of the r/childfree forum - Antonia Cava, University of Messina; Maria Gabriella Campolo, University of Messina; Debora Maria Pizzimenti, University of Messina

• Parallel Prejudices: A meta-analytical comparison of discrimination in housing and labour markets - Louise Devos, Ghent University

• Exploring Labour Market Discrimination in Italy: Findings from a Factorial Survey - Giovanni Busetta; Maria Gabriella Campolo, University of Messina; Alessandra Trimarchi

• Power Asymmetries and the Gender Gap: A study of Italian universities - Milena Meo, University of Messina; Assunta Penna, University of Messina

Session Organizers

• Maria Gabriella Campolo, University of Messina

• Giovanni Busetta