Age Discrimination Across the Business Cycle
63 Pages Posted: 19 Mar 2021
Date Written: March 16, 2021
Abstract
We test whether age discrimination rises during recessions using two complementary analyses. EEOC microdata reveal that age-related firing and hiring charges rise by 3.3% and 1.6%, respectively, for each percentage point increase in a state-industry’s monthly unemployment. Though the opportunity cost of filing falls, the fraction of meritorious claims increases—a sufficient condition for rising discrimination under mild assumptions. Second, we repurpose data from hiring correspondence studies conducted across different cities and time periods during the recovery from the Great Recession. Each percentage point increase in local unemployment reduces the callback rate for older versus younger women by 15%.
Keywords: age discrimination, recessions
JEL Classification: J71, J64, J23
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation