How do minority candidates anticipate discrimination when preparing for and entering the labor market?

Decades of research has shown that migrants and ethnic minorities face discrimination and disadvantage in the labor market. Indeed, ethnic minority candidates are less likely to be invited for a job interview, and as a result, face lower employment rates. When they do find a job, these jobs are more likely to be of lower quality. However, less consensus exist on whether migrant workers who do find a job face a wage penalty. While labor market discrimination on the demand side is relatively well documented, less well studied is what happens at the supply side of the labor market. Certainly, the question how minority workers adapt their behavior when anticipating disadvantage or discrimination remains largely unanswered. We can identify two pivotal moments in a person’s lifecycle prior to entering the job market: (i) the moment(s) of study choice, and (ii) the moment of deciding to apply for a job.

This research project aims to hire two researchers in order to look further into the immigrant-native wage gap, and to set-up a research project looking at the supply side reaction in anticipation of labor market discrimination.