Discrimination based on place of residence and access to employment

Mathieu Bunel (1, 2) , Emilia Ene (3, 2) , Yannick L’horty (3, 2) , Pascale Petit (3, 2)

1 CREM - Centre de recherche en économie et management
2 TEPP - Travail, Emploi et Politiques Publiques
3 ERUDITE - Equipe de Recherche sur l’Utilisation des Données Individuelles en lien avec la Théorie Economique

The purpose of this study is to assess the degree of employment discrimination against young people according to their place of residence. We considered several spatial scales in order to measure the effect of the reputation of the administrative department or county, the town or municipality and of the local neighbourhood. The evaluation is performed using correspondence test data carried out between October 2011 and February 2012. We studied 2988 candidacies that were submitted to 498 job offers (waiters and cooks) within the restaurant industry and located in the Paris area. Statistical and econometric results pointed out that resident effect is significant and important in magnitude: a good address can triple the chances of being invited to a job interview.

Keywords: discrimination; employment; experiment; testing; neighbourhood

Domains: Economics and Finance; Geography

Mathieu Bunel, Emilia Ene, Yannick L’horty, Pascale Petit. Discrimination based on place of residence and access to employment. Urban Studies, 2016, 53 (2), pp.267-286. ⟨10.1177/0042098014563470⟩. ⟨hal-04265000⟩