Center for Effective Global Action

The ultimate impact of labor market discrimination depends not only on whether employers discriminate but also on job seekers’ responses to (expected) discrimination. We ran three field experiments with 2,200 job seekers to study these responses in the context of Rio de Janeiro’s favelas. In this sample, over 80% of job seekers overestimate anti-favela discrimination, as we measure it in a new audit study. We partnered with a private firm with real job openings to estimate how expected discrimination affects job application behavior and interview performance. Interview performance is 0.13 SD higher for job seekers randomly told that their interviewer would know only their name, as opposed to their name and address. In contrast, average job application rates are unaffected by (i) removing the need to declare an address at the application stage, and (ii) information that we did not find evidence of discrimination in our audit study. White job seekers are an exception since removing the need to declare an address increases their application rates. The effect of expected address visibility at the interview also concentrates on white job seekers. This heterogeneity may be because, with hidden addresses, white job seekers can pass for non-favela residents. Passing is harder for non-whites (a majority in favelas, but not outside), who might also expect racial discrimination anyway. Our findings show that expected discrimination may affect job seekers’ search, especially in in-person interactions.