Why Matthew but not Samir? Disrupting the Hiring Bias

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1 Why Matthew but not Samir? Disrupting the Hiring Bias If you have any questions, please Tuesday, 27 October

2 Your Moderator Ratna Omidvar Executive Director of the Global Diversity Exchange (GDX) and Adjunct Professor at the School of Business Management at Ryerson University 2

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4 You 4

5 The Problem: Bias Image: The New Yorker 5

6 Your Speakers Phil Oreopoulos Professor, University of Toronto Co-author of the study Why do some employers prefer to interview Matthew but not Samir? Heidi Walker Evangelist, GapJumpers 6

7 The Evidence Phil Oreopoulos Professor, University of Toronto Co-author of the study Why do some employers prefer to interview Matthew but not Samir? Toronto 7

8 Resume Study Field experiment with 13,000 mock resumes, ed in response to newspaper and online job postings Randomize name, experience, education, and other characteristics, send, and compare callback rate differences Builds on previous U.S. audit studies. Focus on immigrants (in Canada). First resume audit study in Canada Offers clear and convincing evidence on why recent immigrants fare poorly in the Canadian labour market 8

9 Example: Different Name 9

10 Finding 1: Canadian-born individuals with English-names are much more likely to receive a callback compared to foreign born individuals, but not from Britain Table 4 Callback Rates by Resume Type and Ethnic Origin (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) Callback Rates by Resume Type (Difference Compared to Type 0) [Standard Error of Difference, * indicates sign. Diff. compared to prev. type] {Callback Ratio: Type 0 / Type} Ethnic Origin English- India China Pakistan Britain India/China/ Canada Pakistan Type 0 English Name Cdn Educ/Exp Type 4 Foreign Name Foreign Educ (-0.107) (-0.105) (-0.106) (-0.017) (-0.106) Foreign Exp [0.017]** [0.018]*** [0.015]** [0.021] [0.011]*** {3.10} {2.98} {3.04} {1.12} {3.04} 10

11 Finding 2: Employers value experience obtained in Canada Table 4 Callback Rates by Resume Type and Ethnic Origin India/China/ Pakistan Type 2 Foreign Name Callback Rates by Resume Type Foreign Educ (-0.044) (Difference Compared to Type 0) Cdn Exp [0.014] [Standard Error of Difference] {1.39} {Callback Ratio: Type 0 / Type} Type 3 Foreign Name Foreign Educ (-0.070) Mixed Exp [0.013]*** {1.80} Type 4 Foreign Name Foreign Educ (-0.106) Foreign Exp [0.011]*** {3.04} 11

12 Finding 3: Conditional on 4-6 years experience, education plays little role in explaining gap Table 4 Callback Rates by Resume Type and Ethnic Origin India/China/ Pakistan Type 1 Foreign Name Callback Rates by Resume Type Cdn Educ (-0.045) (Difference Compared to Type 0) Cdn Exp [0.011]*** [Standard Error of Difference] {1.40} {Callback Ratio: Type 0 / Type} Type 2 Foreign Name Foreign Educ (-0.044) Cdn Exp [0.014] {1.39} 12

13 Finding 3 (cont d): Obtaining degree from highly ranked foreign school doesn t help Resume Type University Callback Rate Resumes Sent Types 2-4 Chinese Name Jinzhong University Foreign Educ Lanzhou University Peking University* Tsinghua University*

14 Finding 3 (cont d): A Canadian Masters degree does not help either Type 1 Type 2 Type 3 Foreign Name Foreign Name Foreign Name Cdn Educ Foreign Educ Foreign Educ Cdn Exp Cdn Exp Mixed Exp Extra Curricular Activities Listed [0.016] [0.024] [0.020] Fluent in French and other Languages [0.020] [0.031]* [0.022] Canadian Masters Degree [0.020] [0.025]** [0.026] Sample Size

15 Finding 4: Name discrimination substantial, even for resumes with no other foreign indicators Ethnic Origin English- India China Pakistan India/China/ Canada Pakistan Type 0 English Name Cdn Educ/Exp Type 1 Foreign Name Cdn Educ (-0.037) (-0.050) (-0.048) (-0.045) Cdn Exp [0.019]* [0.018]*** [0.016]*** [0.011]*** {1.31} {1.46} {1.44} {1.40} 15

16 What s Going on Here? Statistical Discrimination? (Concern about communication skills) Taste-Based Discrimination? (Preference to work with individuals of same ethnicity or first-language) 16

17 Is it Intentional? Psychology evidence that recruiters are prone to making subconscious split second decisions that are unintentional (time pressure, stress, and ambiguity in how to choose who to interview) Bertrand, Chugh, and Mullainathan find negative correlation between IAT score and picking African American resumes, that gets larger when subjects said they felt rushed going through resumes Rooth also finds negative correlation, but no correlation when using more explicit measure of discrimination 17

18 Masking Names? If name discrimination is unintentional, employers should want to mask name If unintentional, masking should lead to more hires of minorities at interview stage; if intentional, should observe fewer minority hires among interview pool 18

19 A Tested Solution Heidi Walker Evangelist, GapJumpers San Francisco 19

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34 Questions? 34

Why Do Recent Immigrants to Canada Struggle in the Labour Market? New Evidence from a Field Experiment Using Six Thousand Résumés

Why Do Recent Immigrants to Canada Struggle in the Labour Market? New Evidence from a Field Experiment Using Six Thousand Résumés Philip Oreopoulos University of British Columbia National Bureau of Economic