Submit your claim details for a free, no obligation case review
Get Started:
In 2003, the Wall Street Journal reported on a carefully crafted experiment in which college students posed as job applicants at 350 employers, and the results indicated racial discrimination is still very present in the U.S.
The two college students posed as two young high school graduates with similar job histories and demeanors. One man is white and admits to having served 18 months in prison for possession of cocaine with intent to sell, and the other man is black and has no criminal record.
After applying in person for jobs for waiters, warehousemen or other low-skilled positions advertised in a Milwaukee newspaper, the white ex-con was called back 17 percent of the time and the crime-free black applicant 14 percent, showing a young black man’s disadvantage applying for a job as a dishwasher or driver is nearly equivalent to a white man carrying an 18-month prison record.
In the Milwaukee experiment, white and black men with and without prison records were sent to job interviews. Whites without drug busts on their applications did the best, and blacks with drug busts did the worst. While these results were not surprising, the experiment found that acknowledging a prison record cut a white man’s chances of getting called back by half compared to a black man, who already has already slimmer chances, by two-thirds.
In a similar 2002 experiment, economists from the University of Chicago and Massachusetts Institute of Technology responded in writing to help-wanted ads in Chicago and Boston, using names likely to be identified by employers as white or African-American. Applicants with names more likely to be identified as white had a 50 percent greater chance of getting called for interviews than those with names more likely to be identified as African-American.
Researchers also changed some of the resumes to make them appear more appealing to employers in the Boston and Chicago experiment. Adding a year of work experience, some military experience, fewer periods for which no job was listed, computer skills and other resume boosters, it only paid off for whites. The whites with better resumes were called back for interviews 30 percent more than other whites, but the additions did not pay off for blacks that only experienced a 9 percent increase in callbacks.
Racial discrimination in the hiring process continues to persist in America. Many white Americans think racial discrimination is a thing of the past, but many blacks think otherwise. A Gallup poll in 2003 asked “Do you feel that racial minorities in this country have equal job opportunities as whites, or not?”
In response to the question, 55 percent of whites answered yes, 43 percent no and the rest undecided. Among blacks, just 17 percent answered yes and 81 percent answered no. Racial discrimination in America has endured through the years, and while major strides have been made in overcoming these prejudices evidence indicates significantly more must be still be done.
Copyright © 2001 - 2012 Online Lawyer Source
ATTORNEY ADVERTISEMENT—Thank you for your visit. The content published on this website was not written by medical professionals and should not, at any point, be mistaken for medical advice. Furthermore, the information on this site is intended for educational purposes only and should never interfere with a patient/site visitor and his or her healthcare provider. In addition, viewing the content on this website, requesting additional information, or transmitting information through a contact form should never be considered the formation of an attorney-client relationship. The material published on this site is general and may not apply to your specific circumstances. Every case comes with its own set of unique circumstances; past success discussed on this site does not guarantee future performance. Information found on this website should not be used as incentive to act without seeking counsel from a professional. For more information, please read our disclaimer.