Research project Promoting diversity in the labor market - what measures are most effective?

Equal opportunities in the labor market irrespective of gender, ethnicity, age, disability, and sexual orientation is an important societal goal in the European Union. However, many firms and organizations struggle to reach this goal; workplaces are segregated and women are underrepresented in managerial jobs.

The main purpose of this project is to gain knowledge about what measures are effective in promoting diversity in the labor market. The aim is to learn if and how i) practices and methods and ii) consciousness-raising measures and education have effects that increase diversity. Another purpose is to examine to what extent less studied groups are subjected to discrimination, and to investigate how belonging to several disadvantaged groups further affects discrimination.

The project should make a substantial contribution to both the scientific literature on diversity in the labor market and to practitioners working with diversity issues in firms and organizations. The nature of these research questions is multidisciplinary, and we will use theories and methods from mainly economics and psychology. The participants will include seven senior researchers as well as postdocs and PhD students.