Skin color affects selection for employment, indicates study – 02/05/2023 – Market

Skin color can affect the chances of a candidate applying for a job in Europe. What before could have been a suspicion was proven by one of the largest field studies carried out on the subject, in real selection processes. The results reveal that descendants of immigrants born in the continent, the so-called second generation, are subject to racial discrimination based on physical characteristics.

Taking into account the responses received in the first phase of a selection process, when the recruiter, after analyzing the candidate’s profile, demonstrates interest in taking him to the next stage or not, it was shown that candidates of black, Asian/indigenous and Caucasian phenotypes dark-skinned individuals received a lower positive response rate than the white phenotype. Comparisons are made between candidates with identical profiles in terms of gender, type of vacancy sought and region of origin.

Conducted in Germany, Holland and Spain, countries where the photo is usually included in the curriculum, the survey was carried out based on the participation of fictitious candidates in the dispute for almost 13,000 job vacancies. The study, classified as the first large-scale study on the subject, was carried out between 2016 and 2018 and published in the March issue of the academic journal “Socio-Economic Review”, from the University of Oxford.

The experiment was designed, according to the researchers, to verify whether discrimination in European countries had religious-cultural aspects as its main factor, as it had traditionally been considered, especially in relation to descendants with origins in Muslim countries. Until then, there was an understanding, even among specialists, that European prejudice was different from that existing in the US, based on race. The authors claim that the argument was only maintained due to the lack of empirical research in Europe.

“We normally measure the impact of ethnic ancestry by manipulating only the candidates’ names. In this research, we were able to manipulate both the candidate’s name and their racial appearance”, he tells the Sheet Javier Polavieja, lead author of the research and professor of sociology at the Carlos 3 University of Madrid, Spain. “And what the evidence indicates is that European employers are responding to people’s phenotype, not just ethnic ancestry.”

The search for precision in the experiment is justified by the increasing diversity of the European population, as a result of migratory flows. According to data from 2021 from Eurostat, the European Union’s statistics institute, 7% of the population between 15 and 74 years old was born in countries of the bloc with one or both foreign parents. Of these, 57% had at least one parent born outside the EU.

“New Europeans are a crucial group for Europe. A lot is at stake in their integration, including the sustainability of the welfare and pension system. It’s important for everyone that these people get along. And it is. important to check how they are integrated into the labor market”, says Polavieja.

According to the survey results, racial appearance interferes with the probability of a candidate receiving a positive response from the recruiter in the three countries. This impact is significantly greater in Germany and the Netherlands. In them, all “visible” phenotypes are penalized, especially Asian/Indigenous and Black, with average positive response probabilities of 44%, compared to 55% for identical white candidates.

In Spain, the situation is more complex. First, the positive response rate for all groups is much lower than in both countries, a factor attributed to the higher unemployment rate. Afterwards, the difference in the probability of discrimination between whites and non-whites is smaller. While a black candidate has a probability of a positive response of 18%, this number is 22% for a white candidate.

“In Spain, in general, there is less direct discrimination based on appearance alone. But particular combinations of phenotype and ancestry can generate high rates of penalties. This means that the same appearance has a different effect depending on the name with which it is associated”, explains Polavieja.

For example, the appearance of a dark-skinned Caucasian applicant has no impact on the employer’s decision if the photo is associated with a European name. But, if a Moroccan name is associated, it generates a high level of discrimination in Spain.

The authors conclude: German and Dutch recruiters are more clearly “pheno-racists”, more sensitive to appearance, than Spaniards, described as “ethno-racists”. In Germany and the Netherlands, for all regions of origin, there is a color hierarchy. Whites are more likely to respond positively than dark-skinned Caucasians, who are more likely to respond positively than Asians/Indigenous peoples, who are more likely to respond positively than blacks. In Spain, it doesn’t work that way.

“It is shocking that, in the 21st century, having lighter or darker skin plays a role,” says the professor. “For us, the most important effect of this study is to raise awareness. Europeans, at least the European middle class, tend to believe that we are immune to this type of racism. And the survey results show that we definitely are not. “

The discovery of two patterns of discrimination in Europe is the subject of future studies, but the authors speculate that the explanation lies in differences in colonial legacies, with more miscegenation in the case of Spaniards, and in the experiences of authoritarian regimes in the 20th century, with the role of race having been more fundamental in Nazism than in Spanish Fascism.

The study was based on sending fictitious resumes to 12,783 job openings in six categories – cook, hairdresser, store salesperson, receptionist, accountant and IT professional. All candidates were young Europeans aged between 22 and 26, born on the continent to parents from over 40 countries. As soon as the first response was received, the test came to an end, so as not to jeopardize the selection processes.

Asked whether removing the portrait from the CV could lessen the effect of racism in selection processes, the researcher replied that, in the three countries in the experiment, CVs without a photo were the most penalized in terms of positive responses, regardless of the group of ancestry. “I don’t think banning the photo from the resume would reduce overall levels of prejudice. In the US, the photo is not attached and there are high rates of discrimination based on name.”

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Main points

O STUDY

A group of researchers created fictitious CVs for selection processes for 12,783 job vacancies in Germany, the Netherlands and Spain, between 2016 and 2018, with photographs of real people attached to the CVs, as is customary in these countries.

THE INTENTION

Check if Europeans children of immigrant parents, the so-called second generation, suffer discrimination according to skin color and/or according to religious-cultural aspects linked to the region of ancestry.

THE METHODOLOGY

The resumes competed in six categories: cook, hairdresser, store salesman, receptionist, accountant and IT professional. Candidates were young Europeans whose parents were born in over 40 countries. As soon as the first response was received, the test came to an end, so as not to jeopardize the selection processes.

CONCLUSIONS

Racial appearance alone, without information about region of origin, interferes with the likelihood that a candidate will receive a positive response from the recruiter in the three countries. This impact is significantly greater in Germany and the Netherlands.

GERMANY AND NETHERLANDS

In them, all “visible” phenotypes are penalized, especially Asian/Indigenous and Black, with average positive response probabilities of 44%, compared to 55% for identical white candidates. Dark-skinned Caucasians accounted for 47%.

SPAIN

Racial appearance has less direct impact when isolated. The difference between positive responses from whites and non-whites is smaller than in Germany and the Netherlands: a black candidate has a probability of a positive response of 18%, against 22% for a white candidate. But, depending on the name to which the photo is associated, the chance of discrimination increases. A brown-skinned Caucasian has a chance of a positive response decreased from 20% to 14.5% when his photo is linked to a name from the Middle East or Northwest Africa.