A study analyses racial discrimination in job recruitment in Europe

Newswise —

The most extensive investigation on racial discrimination in job recruitment in Europe has unveiled that individuals with a non-white phenotype, who are born to immigrant parents, face significant challenges in finding employment. This is a key finding from a comprehensive study conducted by the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) in partnership with the University of Amsterdam, the Berlin Social Science Centre (WZB), and the German Centre for Integration and Migration Research (DeZIM).

Past studies investigating the labor market integration of immigrants and their offspring in Europe have primarily focused on the discrimination faced by those with a Muslim background. However, these studies have not explored the potential impact of physical appearance as an additional obstacle to employment. To address this gap, the latest study examined the extent to which being part of a "visible" minority, characterized by a non-white phenotype, contributes to discrimination against individuals of immigrant descent in Europe.

A recent study, published in the journal Socio-Economic Review, has shed light on the significant impact of phenotype on job prospects for individuals of immigrant descent in Europe. The study, conducted in Germany, Spain, and the Netherlands, revealed that having a black or Asian/Indigenous American phenotype reduces the likelihood of employer interest by approximately 20% on average. Similarly, individuals with a dark-skinned Caucasian phenotype, commonly found in North Africa, face a reduction of around 10% in average employer interest compared to those with a white phenotype. These estimates account for the isolated effect of phenotype, separate from the applicants' region of ancestry. However, the study also highlighted that discrimination can be exacerbated when ethnic background and phenotype are combined, leading to alarming levels of bias in Europe.

The study was conducted by analyzing responses from nearly 13,000 European companies to simulated job applications in three countries where attaching a photograph to CVs is a common practice. The researchers made changes to the names and photographs on the fictitious job applications while keeping all other CV characteristics identical. These applications were then submitted to real job vacancies across various occupations. All the fictitious applicants were young nationals of the respective European countries (with the nationality of the country where the experiment was conducted), born to parents from four major regions of the world (Europe-USA, Maghreb-Middle East, Latin America-Caribbean, and Asia). The ethnic ancestry was indicated in the CVs primarily through the applicants' names. The photographs used in the CVs were meticulously selected to ensure comparability in physical attractiveness but varied significantly in racial appearance, categorized into four phenotypic groups: "Black", "Asian/Indigenous American", "Dark-skinned Caucasian", and "White Caucasian". This experimental design allowed the researchers to obtain the first-ever comparable estimates of racial discrimination across countries in the field-experimental literature.

Until now, most of the knowledge about racial discrimination in job recruitment has been derived from Anglo countries, particularly the US, where the use of photographs in job applications is prohibited by law. This limitation has forced researchers to rely solely on applicants' names, which can be problematic. However, the recent study conducted by Javier Polavieja, the leading author and Banco Santander Professor of Sociology at UC3M, and his team, has a crucial advantage. The study investigated the role of phenotype and ethnic background as potential triggers of discrimination by leveraging plausible phenotypic variation in large regions of ancestry. This innovative approach allows for a more comprehensive understanding of the complex dynamics of racial discrimination in job recruitment, which was not previously possible. Polavieja also heads the Laboratory on Discrimination and Inequality (D-Lab) at UC3M, further highlighting the expertise and significance of the study's findings.

As per the study's estimates, applicants with Maghreb and Middle Eastern descent who have black phenotypes in the three countries studied face significant challenges in job recruitment. They need to submit approximately fifty percent more job applications to receive a call from employers compared to applicants with identical CVs but with European names and white phenotypes. These levels of discrimination are comparable, if not higher, than those typically observed for African Americans in the United States. Discrimination against applicants with black phenotypes who have European or American parents is relatively lower but still significant, according to Susanne Veit, one of the study's co-authors and the director of the DeZIM laboratory. The findings shed light on the prevalence and impact of racial discrimination in job recruitment, underscoring the need for effective measures to address this issue.

Country differences

The study also examined patterns of racial discrimination in the three countries involved in the experiment, revealing notable differences between Spain and the two northern countries, Germany and the Netherlands. According to Javier Polavieja, the study's leading author, the results suggest that phenotype, or physical appearance, serves as an independent trigger of discrimination in Germany and the Netherlands, leading to reduced employment opportunities for non-white applicants regardless of their parental origin. However, in Spain, discrimination appears to be more limited to specific combinations of phenotype and ancestry, particularly those where applicants' physical appearance aligns most closely with the typical traits of their region of ancestry. Polavieja emphasizes that this does not mean phenotype is irrelevant in Spain, but rather that its effect on employers' responses may be more challenging to disentangle from the impact of applicants' ethnic ancestry. The findings highlight the complexity of racial discrimination in job recruitment and the need for nuanced understanding of its dynamics in different countries and contexts.

The study was conducted as part of the GEMM (Growth, Equal opportunities, Migration & Markets) project, which received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program (GA 649255). Additionally, the study received additional funding from the D-Project (Pushing the Boundaries of Research on Ethno-Racial Discrimination in Hiring) (PID2020-119558GB-I00), which was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033). The financial support from these sources was instrumental in carrying out the research and shedding light on the issue of racial discrimination in employment.