An Experimental Study of Labor Market Discrimination: Gender, Social Class and Neighborhood in Chile

Date
May 2008
The objective of this paper is to study the Chilean labor market and determine the presence or absence of gender discrimination. In order to transcend the limitations of earlier works, an experimental design is used, the first of its kind in Chile. This study also allows socioeconomic discrimination associated with names and places of residence to be addressed. The study consists of sending fictitious Curriculum Vitae for real job vacancies published weekly in the Santiago newspaper El Mercurio. A range of strictly equivalent CVs in terms of qualifications and employment experience of applicants are sent out, varying only in gender, name and surname, and place of residence. The results show no significant differences in callback rates across groups, in contrast with what is found in other international studies.