Why Do Skilled Immigrants Struggle in the Labor Market? A Field Experiment with Thirteen Thousand Resumes
Abstract
Thousands of randomly manipulated resumes were sent in response to online job postings in Toronto to investigate why immigrants, allowed in based on skill, struggle in the labor market. The study finds substantial discrimination across a variety of occupations towards applicants with foreign experience or those with Indian, Pakistani, Chinese, and Greek names compared with English names. Listing language fluency, multinational firm experience, education from highly selective schools, or active extracurricular activities had no diminishing effect. Recruiters justify this behavior based on language skill concerns but fail to fully account for offsetting features when listed. (JEL J15, J24, J61)
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Oreopoulos (2011) found that Canadian-born individuals with English-sounding names were much more likely to receive a callback for a job interview than foreign-born individuals, even when foreign degrees were obtained from prestigious schools.
“In particular, Canadian-born individuals with English-sounding names were much more likely to receive a callback for a job interview compared to foreign-born individuals, even when foreign degrees were obtained from prestigious schools.”
From Prejudice and Discrimination Toward Immigrants (2021) · cites this paper as Oreopoulos 2011
Cites
Automatic associations and discrimination in hiring: Real world evidence
Rooth, D.-O. (2010) · Labour Economics · doi:10.1016/j.labeco.2009.04.005 · Cited by 413 · see citing works
Chay, K. Y. (1998) · ILR Review · doi:10.1177/001979399805100404 · Cited by 120 · see citing works
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Prejudice and Discrimination Toward Immigrants
Esses, V. M. (2021) · Annual Review of Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev-psych-080520-102803 · Cited by 273 · see citing works
Racial discrimination in local public services: A field experiment in the United States
Giulietti, C., Tonin, M., & Vlassopoulos, M. (2019) · Journal of the European Economic Association · doi:10.1093/jeea/jvx045 · Cited by 96 · see citing works
Cukier, W. (2019) · Journal of Global Responsibility · doi:10.1108/jgr-11-2018-0079 · Cited by 24 · see citing works
Fiscal Effects of Immigrants in Canada
Javdani, M., & Pendakur, K. (2014) · Journal of International Migration and Integration · doi:10.1007/s12134-013-0305-5 · Cited by 12 · see citing works
Immigration in Quebec: Labour Market Integration and Contribution to Economic Growth
Boudarbat, B., & Grenier, G. (2017) · Canadian Ethnic Studies · doi:10.1353/ces.2017.0010 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
- Authors
- Oreopoulos, P.
- Affiliations
- Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CA)
- Corresponding author
- Oreopoulos, Philip
- ORCID
- Oreopoulos, Philip
- Venue
- American Economic Journal: Economic Policy
- Publisher
- American Economic Association
- Published
- 2011-11-01
- Volume
- 3
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 148-171
- ISSN
- 1945-7731 (ISSN-L)
- 1945-774X
- OpenAlex
- W2155485214
- Cited by
- 642
- References
- 2
- Citations by year
- 2026: 20 · 2025: 38 · 2024: 41 · 2023: 57 · 2022: 58 · 2021: 65 · 2020: 58 · 2019: 66 · 2018: 48 · 2017: 42 · 2016: 35 · 2015: 35 · 2014: 30 · 2013: 21 · 2012: 14
- FWCI
- 81.43
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- American Economic Journal Economic Policy (publishedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Names, Identity, and Discrimination Research
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Migration and Labor Dynamics
- Social Sciences › Gender Studies › Labour Market and Migration
- Keywords
- skilled migrants, labor market discrimination, resume screening, online job postings, name-based discrimination, international experience, language fluency
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