Ethnic Stereotypes and Entry into Labor Market Programs

Abstract

The authors examine the impact of ethnic bias based on public employment officers’ decisions when choosing whom to recommend for participation in a labor market program. On the basis of an experiment that uses job seekers’ own portrait photographs, their recorded voices, and their real names, findings show that when recommending job seekers for labor market programs, female caseworkers are not affected by job seekers’ appearance, but male caseworkers favor job seekers who are perceived to have a stereotypical Swedish appearance. Moreover, the authors find that, as intended by the guidelines of the Swedish Public Employment Service, both male and female caseworkers favor job seekers perceived, based on the job seekers’ recorded voice, to have a foreign background. The authors’ conclusions suggest that when no explicit guidelines are provided for addressing the impact of ethnic stereotypes on selection for training programs, a risk of bias based on ethnic stereotypes of physical appearance exists.