Discrimination against Turkish minorities in Germany and the Netherlands: field experimental evidence on the effect of diagnostic information on labour market outcomes

Abstract

Previous studies have found that the labour market outcomes of Turkish minorities are slightly better in Germany than in the Netherlands. In this paper we test one of the explanations: differences in ethnic discrimination in hiring. We use a harmonised field experiment to test whether discrimination against job candidates of Turkish origin (age 23-25) varies across Germany and the Netherlands, while holding individual characteristics of job seekers constant. We find that, compared to majority candidates, job candidates of Turkish origin are on average eleven percentage points less likely to receive a positive call-back. Moreover, we find that discrimination against Turkish minorities is significantly higher in the Netherlands than in Germany. In Germany, job candidates of Turkish origin are five percentage points less likely to receive a call-back than equally qualified majority candidates, whereas in the Netherlands this ethnic gap is fifteen percentage points. However, the presented evidence does not support the often-mentioned argument that the amount of diagnostic information in application materials explains why discrimination against Turkish minorities is lower in Germany. Overall, adding diagnostic information has little effect on the relative employment chances of job applicants of Turkish origin, both in Germany and the Netherlands.