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Stereotypes of physical appearance and labor market chances

Author

Listed:
  • Arai, Mahmood

    (Stockholm University)

  • Gartell, Marie

    (Swedish public employment services (Arbetsförmedlingen))

  • Rödin, Magnus

    (Swedish public employment services (Arbetsförmedlingen))

  • Özcan, Gülay

    (Swedish public employment services (Arbetsförmedlingen))

Abstract

Using an experimental setup involving 436 case workers at the Swedish Public Employment Service (SPES) as subjects and the profile photographs and recorded voices of 75 jobseekers as treatments, we report results indicating that male case workers tend to favor jobseekers perceived as having a stereotypical Swedish appearance when they select candidates to be recommended for labor market programs (LMP). This bias represents a roughly 50-percent greater chance of being selected if you compare the candidate with the highest score with regard to stereotypical Swedish looks (8/10) with the candidate with the lowest score (3/10) in our sample.

Suggested Citation

  • Arai, Mahmood & Gartell, Marie & Rödin, Magnus & Özcan, Gülay, 2016. "Stereotypes of physical appearance and labor market chances," Working Paper Series 2016:20, IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:ifauwp:2016_020
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Adman, Per & Larsson Taghizadeh, Jonas, 2020. "Public officials’ treatment of minority clients," Working Paper Series 2020:12, IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    discrimination; ethnic discrimination; racial discrimination; stereotypes; noncognitive attributes;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J70 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Discrimination - - - General

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