White-Sounding Names Get More Job Callbacks Than Black Ones: Study

Photo: Getty Images Applicants with white-sounding names are more likely to get called back for a job than individuals with Black ones, according to a new study per NPR. In a study published this month called “A Discrimination Report Card,” researchers from the University of California, Berkeley and the University of Chicago analyzed data from 83,000 fake job applications for 11,000 entry-level positions at various Fortune 500 companies. Researchers found that the typical employer called back applicants with white-sounding names roughly 9 percent more than Black ones. The worst offenders called back presumably-white applicants 24 percent more than their Black counterparts. The “Discrimination Report Card” published by the researchers names the 97 companies they included in the study and assigns each of them a grade to reflect their level of bias. “Putting the names out there in the public domain is to move away from a lot of the performative allyship that you see with these companies, saying, ‘Oh, we value inclusivity and diversity,'” Pat Kline, a University of California, Berkeley economics professor who worked on the study, said. “We’re trying to create kind of an objective ground truth here.” The latest research is a follow-up to a watershed study...