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Field
Abstract
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Before
Numerous studies find discrimination in the hiring process of applicants from ethnic minorities (e.g. Bertrand and Duflo 2017, Carlson and Roth 2006; Kaas and Manger 2011, SVR 2014). Apart from an observational study from Norway (Helland and Støren 2006), little is known about pre-K-12 discrimination against students who apply for an apprenticeship or vocational training when leaving middle school. Although ten-thousands are enrolled in this type of vocational training with cooperation and businesses, it has not yet been researched whether prior work experience, grades or even certificates of prior economic knowledge can mitigate the disadvantages of preference-based discrimination (e.g. racism). We conducted field experiments to examine these research questions with empirical data and complemented this by an employer survey.
Pilot study (Campaign 1): In a randomized, controlled pilot study, starting in November 2022, we sent around 18,900 email inquiries to companies that had reported training positions to local job centers in German cities in three business sectors (public administration, industry and services). The study was designed using a block-randomized treatment approach, manipulating four key applicant characteristics: (1) migration background (German, Turkish, Russian), (2) gender (male, female), (3) academic performance (high GPA, satisfactory GPA after 10 years of school with the completion of the technical college entrance qualification), and (4) prior economic knowledge through the EBC*L certificate .
Main study: Campaign 2 (February until May 2024) expanded our approach with three waves of more than 21,200 email inquiries sent nationwide across the same three sectors. In this campaign, we modified our treatment to 3*2*2*2 = 24 dimensions to include: (1) migration background to German, Israeli, and Arab, (2) gender (male, female), (3) academic performance (high GPA, satisfactory GPA after 10 years of school with the completion of the technical college entrance qualification), and (4) prior economic knowledge through internships.
Between April and June 2024, we fielded a survey with employers, confronted them with our findings and asked about their perceptions why young migrant applicants receive less answers compared to German applicants in open-ended questions (Stancheva 2022). The survey was distributed to a stratified random sample of firms that were treated in the previous campaigns. We collected responses from 772 participants. The survey was designed to address three primary research questions:
1) Whether statistical discrimination mechanisms are reflected in respondents' beliefs about productivity and success rates; (2) whether taste-based mechanisms are evident in concerns about workplace integration; and (3) whether perceptions vary systematically across different ethnic groups in ways that align with observed discrimination patterns in our correspondence studies.
The participants reported significant differences in perceived perseverance across migrant backgrounds and varying levels of cultural distance. Both factors might attribute to estimate opportunity costs of hiring a migrant applicant.
Campaign 3 (February until March 2025): To test the robustness of these findings, we designed and implemented a field experiment in the spring of 2025.
We block-randomized the treatments into (2*2*2*3) 24 dimensions at the level of industries and federal states:
Building on insights from the previous campaigns and survey results, we narrowed the focus to Turkish and German candidates to examine specific mechanisms in greater detail and introduced voluntary extracurricular activities to either signal cultural affinity to Germans or the exact opposite as a new treatment dimension: We employed a 2*2*2*3 = 24 dimensions treatment design:
(1) migration background (German, Turkish), (2) gender (male, female), (3) academic performance (high GPA, satisfactory GPA after 10 years of school with the completion of the technical college entrance qualification), and (4) voluntary extracurricular activities. The fourth dimension consists of either participation in a German Turkish cultural association (signalling affinity to Turkish culture), participation in a school-based natural science club (signalling perseverance), or no volunteering experience (control condition).
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After
Numerous studies find discrimination in the hiring process of applicants from ethnic minorities (e.g. Bertrand and Duflo 2017, Carlson and Roth 2006; Kaas and Manger 2011, SVR 2014). Apart from an observational study from Norway (Helland and Støren 2006), little is known about pre-K-12 discrimination against students who apply for an apprenticeship or vocational training when leaving middle school. Although ten-thousands are enrolled in this type of vocational training with cooperation and businesses, it has not yet been researched whether prior work experience, grades or even certificates of prior economic knowledge can mitigate the disadvantages of preference-based discrimination (e.g. racism). We conducted field experiments to examine these research questions with empirical data and complemented this by an employer survey.
Pilot study (Campaign 1): In a randomized, controlled pilot study, starting in November 2022, we sent around 18,900 email inquiries to companies that had reported training positions to local job centers in German cities in three business sectors (public administration, industry and services). The study was designed using a block-randomized treatment approach, manipulating four key applicant characteristics: (1) migration background (German, Turkish, Russian), (2) gender (male, female), (3) academic performance (high GPA, satisfactory GPA after 10 years of school with the completion of the technical college entrance qualification), and (4) prior economic knowledge through the EBC*L certificate .
Main study: Campaign 2 (February until May 2024) expanded our approach with three waves of more than 21,200 email inquiries sent nationwide across the same three sectors. In this campaign, we modified our treatment to 3*2*2*2 = 24 dimensions to include: (1) migration background to German, Israeli, and Arab, (2) gender (male, female), (3) academic performance (high GPA, satisfactory GPA after 10 years of school with the completion of the technical college entrance qualification), and (4) prior economic knowledge through internships.
Between April and June 2024, we fielded a survey with employers, confronted them with our findings and asked about their perceptions why young migrant applicants receive less answers compared to German applicants in open-ended questions (Stancheva 2022). The survey was distributed to a stratified random sample of firms that were treated in the previous campaigns. We collected responses from 772 participants. The survey was designed to address three primary research questions:
1) Whether statistical discrimination mechanisms are reflected in respondents' beliefs about productivity and success rates; (2) whether taste-based mechanisms are evident in concerns about workplace integration; and (3) whether perceptions vary systematically across different ethnic groups in ways that align with observed discrimination patterns in our correspondence studies.
The participants reported significant differences in perceived perseverance across migrant backgrounds and varying levels of cultural distance. Both factors might attribute to estimate opportunity costs of hiring a migrant applicant.
Campaign 3 (February until March 2025): To test the robustness of these findings, we designed and implemented a field experiment in the spring of 2025.
We block-randomized the treatments into (2*2*2*3) 24 dimensions at the level of industries and federal states:
Building on insights from the previous campaigns and survey results, we narrowed the focus to Turkish and German candidates to examine specific mechanisms in greater detail and introduced voluntary extracurricular activities to either signal cultural affinity to Germans or the exact opposite as a new treatment dimension: We employed a 2*2*2*3 = 24 dimensions treatment design:
(1) migration background (German, Turkish), (2) gender (male, female), (3) academic performance (high GPA, satisfactory GPA after 10 years of school with the completion of the technical college entrance qualification), and (4) voluntary extracurricular activities. The fourth dimension consists of either participation in a German Turkish cultural association (signalling affinity to Turkish culture), participation in a school-based natural science club (signalling perseverance), or no volunteering experience (control condition).
Between July and August 2025, we fielded a second survey with employers, confronted them with our findings and asked about their perceptions why young migrant applicants receive less answers compared to German applicants in open-ended questions (Stancheva 2022). The survey was distributed to a stratified random sample of firms that were treated in the previous campaign. We collected responses from 572 participants.
The survey was designed to address three primary research questions:
1) Whether statistical discrimination mechanisms are reflected in respondents' beliefs about productivity and success rates; (2) whether taste-based mechanisms are evident in concerns about workplace integration; and (3) whether perceptions vary systematically across different ethnic groups in ways that align with observed discrimination patterns in our correspondence studies.
The participants reported significant differences in perceived perseverance across migrant backgrounds and varying levels of cultural distance. Both factors might attribute to estimate opportunity costs of hiring a migrant applicant.
In addition, we used a treatment that was randomly assigned to respondents as follows:
"Imagine that you have been responsible for selecting trainees at a medium-sized company for several years. Every month, you review dozens of applications and make preliminary decisions. In addition to school grades and resumes, your assessments are also based on personal impressions and operational experience.
Please answer the following questions from this perspective—that is, how you think someone in this role would typically think or act. This is not about your personal opinion, but about the perspective of a human resources manager.
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