Is there less discrimination in occupations where recruitment is difficult?

Abstract

We empirically test the cross-sectional relationship between hiring discrimination and labor market tightness at the level of the occupation. To this end, we conduct a correspondence test in the youth labor market. In line with theoretical expectations, we find that, compared to natives, candidates with a foreign sounding name are equally often invited to a job interview if they apply for occupations for which vacancies are difficult to fill, but they have to send twice as many applications for occupations for which labor market tightness is low. Our findings are robust to various sensitivity checks