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A test for racial discrimination

Recruitment practice in British cities

Did you know?

To secure a job interview, we had to send out 74% more applications for ethnic minority candidates

from : A test for racial discrimination findings

About this study

This report provides evidence on the extent to which ethnic minorities are discriminated against in the British job market. It was commissioned by the Department for Work and Pensions.

An important finding from the report is that there is significant and widespread racial discrimination in the recruitment process. This and other findings emerged after we sent fictitious CVs to nearly a thousand advertised jobs from candidates with names from different ethnic backgrounds.

To get a positive response from an employer, on average we had to send nine applications from a 'white' candidate, compared to 16 for a candidate from an ethnic minority.

Potential policy impact

This is clear evidence that discrimination in the recruitment process remains a problem despite years of efforts to address it. However, we found no evidence of discrimination among those organisations that used their own forms, rather than CVs. Using forms makes it possible to separate a candidate's personal details from their application.

Methods

We used a method of correspondence testing that has been used in similar studies world wide.

Advertised job vacancies were identified across a set of occupations and cities between November 2008 and May 2009.

A matched set of three plausible applications was developed in response to these adverts and ethnic identity was randomly assigned to each application using names widely associated with the required ethnic group.

Of interest: