Ethnic Discrimination in China's Internet Job Board Labor Market

Abstract

We conduct a large‐scale field experiment to investigate how Chinese firms respond to job applications from ethnic minority and Han applicants for jobs posted on a large Chinese Internet job board. We denote ethnicity by means of names that are typically Han Chinese and distinctively Mongolian, Tibetan, and Uighur. We find significant differences in the callback rates by ethnicity and that these differences vary systematically across ethnic groups. Not all firms discriminate – approximately half treat all candidates equally. State-owned firms are significantly less likely than privately‐owned firms to discriminate against minorities by calling only candidates with Han names and much more likely to treat candidates equally.

Keywords: Chinese firms, hiring, discrimination, ethnicity, internet job boards, resume audit study

JEL Classification: J71, J23, J15, O52, P25