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on Minorities Research (Ethnic, LGBTQ+, Disabilities) |
| By: | Mallory Avery; Edwin Ip; Andreas Leibbrandt; Joseph Vecci |
| Abstract: | Recent technological advancements are reshaping pathways to employment by automating the interview process. Asynchronous interviews, in which job applicants submit answers to interview questions via an online platform without interacting with an interviewer, are replacing more traditional face-to-face job interviews. At the same time, AI algorithms are now widely used to assess these interview answers. In this paper, we use a field experiment to comprehensively study how these new technologies affect applicants and employersin the recruitment process. Over 3, 000 job applicants are randomized into asynchronous audio or video interviews, live online interviews, and a control group. Their job interviews are then assessed by both professional recruiters and a commercial AI recruitment tool used by most Fortune 100 companies. We find that asynchronous interviews cause an over 50% decrease in application continuation, including among the most qualified applicants, and that this decline is largest for women. A complementary vignette experiment provides evidence that this deterrence is driven by perceptions about the competitiveness and fairness of the recruitment process. In terms of assessments, we find that the AI evaluation tool scores women and underrepresented racial minorities higher than human evaluators, while the opposite is true for men, Whites and Asians. We track our applicants’ subsequent labor market outcomes and find that the AI assessment tool predicts subsequent employment success substantially better than human recruiters, suggesting that AI captures soft skills and potential that humans overlook. In addition, we provide evidence that, unlike AI, human recruiters’ assessments suffer from multiple cognitive biases. Our findings provide some of the first key evidence on how recent technological advances are transforming the hiring process. |
| Keywords: | Technological Change, Artificial Intelligence, Gender, Field Experiment |
| JEL: | C93 J23 J71 J78 |
| Date: | 2026–03–25 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mos:moswps:paper_1775627424263_198 |
| By: | Louise Devos; Louis Lippens; Stijn Baert; Pieter-Paul Verhaeghe (-) |
| Abstract: | While extensive empirical research documents discrimination in labour and housing markets, comparative insights between these markets remain limited. We address this gap by juxtaposing levels of discrimination across five legally protected grounds—race and ethnicity, sex and gender, health and disability, sexual orientation, and social origin—in both markets. We apply hierarchical Bayesian meta-regressions to global data from correspondence audit studies conducted from 2000 to 2024. In doing so, we account for the metadata’s multilevel structure, including study, group, location and time components. Our meta-analysis uncovers structural differences in discrimination, with racial and ethnic discrimination being greatest in the labour market and discrimination based on social origin being highest in the housing market. Frequentist robustness checks that address publication bias yield comparable findings. |
| Keywords: | discrimination, correspondence audits, meta-analysis, housing market, labour market |
| Date: | 2026–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rug:rugwps:26/1143 |
| By: | Coll-Black, Sarah; Hamandi, Ali; Beitman, Aaron; Tretyak, Andrey; Arias Salvador, Valeria |
| Abstract: | This working paper explores strategies and interventions that LTC systems in ECA could adopt to strengthen the climate resilience of people with functional limitations and their caregivers. After a short section on methodology and conceptual framing, the paper introduces the IPCC climate risk framework and outlines the main climate hazards projected for ECA, noting their varying frequency and intensity across the region. It then examines how individual vulnerability shapes the impact of these hazards, with a focus on older people and people with disabilities, whose functional limitations and care needs increase their susceptibility. The analysis considers biological and health factors, social circumstances, and structural conditions that heighten vulnerability to both climate shocks and gradual changes such as rising temperatures. The paper then turns to international experience, highlighting approaches from selected OECD countries that have modified their LTC systems or introduced innovations to protect people with care needs—and, in some cases, a broader population of older people and people with disabilities from climate risks. Building on these case studies and a wider literature review, the paper identifies a set of strategies across LTC system functions t hat ECA countries could apply before, during, and after climate hazards to maintain essential care, address emerging needs, and extend support to groups not currently covered. The paper concludes with questions for further research and analysis. |
| Date: | 2025–09–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:hdnspu:204708 |
| By: | Mark Bryan (School of Economics, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 2TU, UK); Andrew Bryce (School of Economics, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 2TU, UK); Jennifer Roberts (School of Economics, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 2TU, UK); Cristina Sechel (School of Economics, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 2TU, UK) |
| Abstract: | The last decade has seen a significant worsening of health in the UK, driven by an increase in mental health conditions, with a consequent increase in the number of disabled people. At the same time overall employment growth has been strong and the employment rate of disabled people has grown faster than that of non-disabled people. How can we reconcile this apparent paradox of declining health and growing employment? Using detailed observational data for 2014-2022 from a large survey of the UK population we employ counterfactual analysis to explore this puzzle. We present three key findings. First, the rise in the employment rate of disabled people and the narrowing of the disability employment gap (DEG) cannot be attributed to changes in the health of the disabled population. Second, the narrowing of the DEG is predominantly associated with a parallel reduction in the education attainment gap between disabled and non-disabled people. Finally, despite increased employment among disabled people, the growing size of the disabled population has reduced the growth of the overall employment rate. Our work has a number of implications for policy targeted at improving the employment outcomes of disabled people. While the DEG has narrowed, disability prevalence has increased, leading to lower employment rates than would otherwise have prevailed. Hence, there is still a crucial role for the health care sector in improving labour market outcomes and thus overall welfare levels in the UK. Moreover, the interdependence of health and employment status requires joined up health care and labour market policy making. |
| Keywords: | disability, employment, education, mental health, physical health |
| JEL: | I14 J14 J21 J70 |
| Date: | 2026–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:shf:wpaper:2026004 |
| By: | World Bank |
| Abstract: | The public social insurance system in Egypt plays a critical role in maintaining the cohesion of society within the country’s broader social protection framework. The system has a long history that dates back to the mid-19th century and includes various laws that have been introduced over time to provide different categories of workers with pensions and other benefits. As a result, Egypt has one of the largest publicly managed pension systems in the Middle East and North Africa region, one that supports a significant share of the employed population as well as provides pensions to the elderly, people with disabilities, widows, and orphans. This note outlines the key features of the pension system reform and modernization program. It also highlights the insights gained to inform adjustments to relevant policies and enhance administration and pension asset management. While the authors provide a summary of the parametric reform, a detailed assessment of its fiscal impact falls beyond the scope of this note. |
| Date: | 2025–02–28 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:hdnspu:202830 |
| By: | Hamilton, Alexander; Hicksonm, Ford; Schmidt, Axel J. |
| Abstract: | Being happy with one’s sex life is an important facet of sexual health. Several studies have found associations between sex life happiness and a range of individual (or proximate) and contextual (usually country-level) factors amongst men who have sex with men (MSM). Using a novel dataset, the 2017 European Men-Who-Have-Sex-With-Men Internet Survey (EMIS-2017), this paper simultaneously explores the association of both individual and contextual variables, sex life happiness, and health. Understanding and quantifying this link is important for policy makers concerned with improving health outcomes in minority, and often marginalized, populations. Results: Recency of sex and/or being in a steady sexual relationship had the largest positive associations with higher self-reported sex life happiness. Being single had the largest negative association. Among individual-level factors, not having experienced homophobia and being out to a majority of one’s social network were most strongly associated with sex life happiness. At the country-level, there is evidence that living in a country with a more authoritarian political regime is associated with less sex life happiness. Mediation analysis shows that authoritarian regimes are also indirectly negatively associated with sex life happiness via the likelihood of being open about one’s sexuality. This study provides a strong basis for further research exploring the potentially complex associations between proximate and contextual variables in determining sex life happiness amongst populations of men who have sex with men. |
| Date: | 2026–05–18 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:11382 |
| By: | Bradley, Jake (University of Nottingham); Albornoz, Facundo (University of Nottingham); Sonderegger, Silvia (University of Nottingham); Rodriguez, Jesus (University of Nottingham); Rustagi, Devesh (University of Warwick) |
| Abstract: | There are concerns over the rise in populism and hate crimes targeting minorities in democracies. We examine whether national information shocks triggered by political events play a role. Focusing on two UK events that revealed nationwide anti-immigrant sentiment, we document counterintuitive results: large persistent surges in hate crimes in the post-event periods in areas with pro-immigrant, rather than anti-immigrant, attitudes. We show that the xenophobic minority residing in pro-immigrant areas experience stronger belief shocks from these events, inducing them to update their beliefs about social acceptability of hate. Our findings highlight how heterogeneous priors interact with national events to amplify xenophobic behavior |
| Keywords: | Information shocks, attitudes towards immigrants, hate crimes, United Kingdom JEL codes: C72, D80, P0 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wrk:warwec:1611 |