Job Applicants With ‘Black’ Sounding Names Less Likely to Get Interviews

Study Shows Racial Discrimination Is Still Happening At the Early Stages of Hiring

In a recent interview published by Marketplace Morning Report, David Brancaccio discuss a new study from the National Bureau of Economic Research which suggests that systemic racial discrimination during the job application process is still happening.

Researchers sent more than 80,000 fake job applications for entry-level openings to Fortune 500 firms and found that, on average, applications with distinctively Black sounding names like Leticia or Jamal were about 10% less likely to get a call back than comparable applications with distinctively white names such as Emily or Greg.

What was surprising was that a significant portion of the hiring discrimination documented in the study was associated with a small portion of the 108 companies, according to Evan Rose, a Saieh Family Research Fellow at the University of Chicago and a co-author of the study.

One big open question is whether or not the authors of the study will release the name of the companies which they attributed the lions’ share of the discriminatory behavior to. Don’t be on that list!  Fair Screen can help you bring fairness to your selection processes.

[Read All About It]

 

 

Fair Screen is a background screening company dedicated to helping employers fairly use criminal records in the hiring process. Contact Us to learn more about how a well-tuned screening process can speed the time to hire, include more job applicants, and help ensure your consistency and compliance. Help us make a difference!

 

 

 

The foregoing content is not given as legal advice but is instead offered for informational purposes only. Fair Screen is not a law firm and therefore cannot offer legal advice. We always recommend speaking with an attorney who is knowledgeable about your company’s individual circumstances prior to making any hiring decisions or policy changes. Fair Screen makes no assurances regarding the accuracy or completeness of this content.