Study Exposes Racial Bias in Hiring Practices, But Finds Some Companies Show No Discrimination

A group of economists sent 80,000 fake resumes to 100 large U.S. companies to test for racial and gender discrimination in hiring. On average, employers contacted white applicants 9.5% more than Black applicants.

However, some companies showed no racial bias, including food retailers like Kroger and transport companies like FedEx. Centralized HR practices reduced discrimination.

Being female was a slight benefit for white applicants but a slight penalty for Black applicants. Being over 40 or LGBTQ+ also resulted in small penalties.

Requiring college degrees and allowing individual hiring managers to make calls introduced more bias. More diversity among recruiters and applicants helped reduce discrimination.

More profitable companies and those with more government scrutiny discriminated less. This suggests discrimination is bad for business or indicates more efficient HR processes.