Experimental Design
This is a comparative correspondence study assessing potential gender differences in hiring discrimination around parenthood in a low-, medium- and high-skilled occupation in three countries. For the comparative element of this study, the countries were selected given their variation in institutional supports for both class and gender equality. Finland has more extensive labor market institutions and policy support for dual-earning and caring. The German welfare state and tripartite labor market coordination historically supported men's role as family breadwinners. The more liberal UK welfare regime minimizes state intervention in market mechanism affecting either class or gender equality. To compare effects across skill levels, three occupations requiring different levels of education were selected that are also less gender-segregated in all three countries: call center workers, restaurant managers, and accountants.
Two sets of comparable application materials in terms of employment trajectories and accomplishments were developed for each occupation in each country based on national statistics, data bases, LinkedIn profiles, and discussions with country HR experts and recruiting professionals. The sets of application materials were harmonized to equalize number of years of post-secondary education plus work experience within occupations across countries.
External validity of instruments for each occupation has been confirmed via interviews with HR experts, whereas commensurability of sets of application materials (internal validity) has been validated with in-person student and online abs in each country with a total of 884 students.
In fielding, job advertisements will be drawn from online employment databases in each country to provide widest coverage of available jobs. We use a 2x2 within-subject design for effects of parenthood (i.e., for each job ad, two applications will be sent of the same gender, both of whom are married but one is randomly assigned to be a parent (treatment) and the other childless (control)). Parenthood is signaled in the personal information on the resume (doing so is still more normative in Europe). Differences in positive callback rates between men and women are investigated by means of between-subject variation. Gender is manipulated by applicant names, drawn from the most common first names in each country. To evaluate treatment effects, the study documents positive callbacks from employers, comparing group differences in requests for an interview with rejections or non-response.