Anyone searching for a job in California could experience setbacks, but racial prejudice persists as a impediment to career development for African Americans and Latinos. A meta-analysis of all available research studies that tested job callback rates among applicants of various races concluded that hiring discrimination against African Americans has not improved at all since 1989.
The researchers who studied the findings of multiple experiments conducted across the years calculated that employers called back white applicants 36 percent more often than African Americans. Latino applicants gained some ground over the years, but white applicants still got job interviews 24 percent more often.
The many field experiments that investigated hiring discrimination prepared fake resumes that had names with easily identifiable ethnic origins. The resumes displayed equivalent job skills and experience among the fake candidates. Other studies hired people of different races to apply for jobs in person. In a linguistics study, the researcher selected people with various ethnic dialects to inquire about job ads by telephone. Employers were most likely to tell candidates with a white-sounding dialect that jobs were available.
Hiring discrimination can be difficult to identify because responses to job applications are not guaranteed. However, a person who failed to get an interview at an organization that appeared to lack diversity might decide to discuss suspicions with an attorney. An attorney may investigate the employer’s hiring practices and perhaps discover evidence of discrimination. To pursue a settlement, an attorney may contact the organization and express the person’s allegations of hiring discrimination. A formal complaint to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission might be prepared at the same time. Depending on the employer’s response, an attorney may guide the person through the next steps, possibly leading to litigation.
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