Research project Inclusion and exclusion at the labor market – an intersectional field experiment

We carry out a field experiment where a large number of equally merited job applications are sent to job openings in the labor market. We signal the applicants’ gender and ethnicity through their names. Gender identity and ethnic identity are signaled with stereotypical personal characteristics and leisure activities. We send applications to jobs where the applicants are typical or atypical depending on character of the job.

Based on the reactions we receive from the employers, we will be able to draw conclusions about whether employers are ‘reinforcers’ or ‘counteractors’ in the reproduction of segregation and inequality in the labor market. We will also be able to draw conclusions about mechanisms by analyzing how combinations of gender and ethnic signaling affect employer reactions.

The results of this project speak to several fields of research. The design combines high internal validity with high external validity, and provides the research community with a highly credible test of the way gender, ethnicity and their combination interacts in discrimination processes. We contribute in a fundamental way with new knowledge about causes of occupational segregation, employment differences between groups, and inequality between groups generally.