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Gender Discrimination in Job Ads: Theory and Evidence

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  • Peter J. Kuhn
  • Kailing Shen

Abstract

We study firms' advertised gender preferences in a population of ads on a Chinese internet job board, and interpret these patterns using a simple employer search model. The model allows us to distinguish firms' underlying gender preferences from firms' propensities to restrict their search to their preferred gender. The model also predicts that higher job skill requirements should reduce the tendency to gender-target a job ad; this is strongly confirmed in our data, and suggests that rising skill demands may be a potent deterrent to explicit discrimination of the type we document here. We also find that firms' underlying gender preferences are highly job-specific, with many firms requesting men for some jobs and women for others, and with one third of the variation in gender preferences within firm*occupation cells.

Suggested Citation

  • Peter J. Kuhn & Kailing Shen, 2011. "Gender Discrimination in Job Ads: Theory and Evidence," NBER Working Papers 17453, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:17453
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    Cited by:

    1. Vera Brenčič, 2012. "Wage posting: evidence from job ads," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 45(4), pages 1529-1559, November.
    2. Shing-Yi Wang, 2013. "Marriage Networks, Nepotism, and Labor Market Outcomes in China," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 5(3), pages 91-112, July.
    3. Hambur Wang, 2024. "Can education correct appearance discrimination in the labor market?," Papers 2411.01621, arXiv.org.
    4. Maitreyi Bordia Das, 2016. "All in my Head? The Play of Exclusion and Discrimination in the Labor Market," Journal of International Commerce, Economics and Policy (JICEP), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 7(02), pages 1-20, June.
    5. HLASNY, Vladimir, 2014. "Four pillars of job applicant screening in China," Working Papers 2014029, University of Antwerp, Faculty of Business and Economics.
    6. repec:wyi:journl:002178 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Zhou, Xiangyi & Zhang, Jie & Song, Xuetao, 2013. "Gender Discrimination in Hiring: Evidence from 19,130 Resumes in China," MPRA Paper 43543, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J63 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Turnover; Vacancies; Layoffs
    • J71 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Discrimination - - - Hiring and Firing

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