Black-sounding names less likely to receive job call backs than white-sounding ones: Study

A new study shows that employers are less likely to call back applicants with Black-sounding names than those with white-sounding ones.

Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Chicago recently filed 83,000 fake job applications for 11,000 entry-level positions at multiple Fortune 500 companies with names like Brad, Greg, Darnell, Lamar, Amanda, Kristen, Ebony and Latoya. 

The study, “A Discrimination Report Card,” found that the white-sounding applicant names were favored up to 24 percent more than the likely Black applicants. 

“It’s of course upsetting and discouraging that in the year 2023 and so on that this phenomenon persists and can be at the level that it can be detected with an experiment like ours,” Evan K. Rose, a professor of economics at the University of Chicago and co-author of the report, said.

The 2021 study built upon research from a 2003 study, which found that applicants with names that sounded white got 50 percent more callbacks than those whose names sounded Black. 

The new report also found that the percentage of discrimination varied among industries and went onto name companies with the worst rates. Auto dealers and car part retailers were the least likely to call back Black applicants. 

Genuine Auto Parts and used car retailer AutoNation scored the worst on the study’s discrimination report card. Charter/Spectrum, Dr. Pepper, Kroger and Avis-Budget had the best scores. 

Federal contractors and more profitable companies called back applicants at similar rates. 

Rose said he and the team named the companies to showcase that the discrimination is not universal. 

“When people want to look into these differences further, they actually know where to look and they can do qualitative research or case studies of some of the companies and understand what makes this company different from others,” he explained.

The study also unearthed gender disparities. 

While manufacturing companies called back people with male names at higher rates, clothing stores showed a preference toward female applicants.

Rose said he hopes the data can be helpful to both job seekers and employers. 

“If you’re a job seeker, and you’re a member of a group that has historically faced discrimination in the labor market, I think it might be valuable to know where you might expect to see more or less discrimination,” he said.

“By calling attention to these patterns and releasing mistakes, this might prompt some firms to take a look at their own policies and practices, think proactively about whether or not there are things they could improve that would mitigate the potential for bias in their organization,” Rose added.