Whilst Sociological Science isn't always my go-to-bed read, you get some fascinating nuggets from these uber-specialist academic journals.
Released this week is a study into discrimination in the recruitment process between countries – based on a formal meta-analysis of 97 field experiments of discrimination incorporating more than 200,000 job applications in nine countries in Europe and North America.
The countries with the highest discrimination? France and Sweden.
Whilst there are differing reasons for discrimination cited – availability of work and social housing, national history & legacy colonial profile, public policies etc – one clear driver is the setting of clear D&I targets and publicly measuring & reporting on these.
Little surprise then that France – which tops the list of countries studied - currently has no formal diversity reporting.
Banal lesson for all? If you want to improve it you need to measure it.
Comparing levels of discrimination across countries can provide a window into large-scale social and political factors often described as the root of discrimination. Because of difficulties in measurement, however, little is established about variation in hiring discrimination across countries. We find significant discrimination against nonwhite natives in all countries in our analysis; discrimination against white immigrants is present but low. However, discrimination rates vary strongly by country: In high-discrimination countries, white natives receive nearly twice the callbacks of nonwhites; in low-discrimination countries, white natives receive about 25 percent more. France has the highest discrimination rates, followed by Sweden. We find smaller differences among Great Britain, Canada, Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway, the United States, and Germany.
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