A test for racial discrimination in recruitment practice in British cities
Martin Wood, Jon Hales, Susan Purdon, Tanja Sejersen and Oliver Hayllar
This report provides the findings from a field experiment that aimed to test the extent of racial discrimination in the recruitment process in different areas of the British labour market. The Department for Work and Pensions commissioned the National Centre for Social Research to carry out the study to collect factual evidence to test the assertion that discrimination is a significant factor affecting labour market outcomes for members of ethnic minorities.
In line with techniques used in several countries, the test involved submitting matched job applications from white and ethnic minority applicants to each of 987 vacancies advertised between October 2008 and May 2009. Ethnic identity was conveyed in the applications using names found to be widely associated with the ethnic groups included in the study, and these were randomly assigned to the applications. Differences between the ethnic groups in the proportion of positive responses from employers can therefore be attributed to discrimination.
October 2009 69 pages 297x210mm
ISBN 978-1-84712-645-0
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A test for racial discrimination in recruitment practice in British cities
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Technical Annex
(1.37MB)