Research project Performance evaluations, career trajectories and gender bias: Evidence from Swedish court clerks

Employers often ask supervisors to provide performance evaluations of their subordinates. The purpose of this project is to investigate the role of performance evaluations in the labor market. We compile a new dataset of evaluations from the Swedish court system, where law clerks are supervised and evaluated by judges. We analyze if judges vary in their assessments of similarly performing clerks and how the evaluations affect the clerks’ subsequent careers. We also study if male and female clerks receive different evaluations. We provide new insights into the consequences of performance evaluations and the persistent gender gaps in high-skilled professions. The court system performs an essential function in society and is the largest employer of Swedish legal professionals. Law clerks have received standardized evaluations for over 40 years, and we offer the first quantitative assessment of biases in this system.