Anti-discrimination statements by employers may result in more discrimination

The Economist, September 27, 2018

Companies discriminate. They discriminate against black people, poor people, gay people and fat people—oh yes they do. Using callback studies, in which fictitious CVs for identically qualified candidates are sent to employers, economists have become quite good at measuring the penalty paid for being a woman, a racial minority or lower-class. Identical résumés under Asian-sounding names are 30% less likely to get call-backs from employers; for black-sounding names the penalty is 50%. Unfortunately there appears to be little improvement over time. Estimates of racial discrimination in hiring blacks in America look as bad now as they did in 1990.