Which Industries are More Likely to Consider Greg’s Application Over Jamal’s? New Discrimination Report Cards Have the Answer
Recently, a group of researchers sought hard data to show differences in rates of racial and gender discrimination in the hiring process through a nationwide experiment among large U.S. employers.
The experiment sent 83,000 fictitious, nearly identical, entry-level applications to 11,000 open positions from 108 of the largest U.S. employers across the country. The report builds upon a 2003 study in which names like Emily and Greg received 50% more callbacks than did applicants with distinctively Black names like Lakisha and Jamal.
In this most recent study, the researchers also varied the names on applications, which were either “distinctively Black” or “distinctively White” as well as gendered and studied the callback rates received by the various groups of candidates.
While the results show an average decrease in disparity from twenty-years ago, the racial and gender bias that we know exists is still documented through their study.
Taking previous studies a step further, the researchers disseminated A Discrimination Report Card to render additional transparency. Companies that earned the worst grade of 1 red star (such as Genuine Parts, Napa Auto and AutoNation) were estimated to favor applicants with “distinctively White” names over applications with “distinctively Black” names by 24%.
Additionally, industry tends to play a role in gender discrimination. Manufacturing industries indicated a strong preference for male names, whereas apparel industries showed a strong preference for female names.
The companies that earned the best grades (including Kroger, Target and FedEx) had relatively low rates of discrimination but still showed that applications with “distinctively White” garnered a callback rate 3% higher than that of applications with “distinctively Black” names.
The companies that received low grades expressed intent to evaluate their practices to ensure inclusivity and diversity. Let’s hope recent attacks on DEI initiatives do not impact their decisions to be more inclusive.