Data and Code for: Age Discrimination across the Business Cycle

Principal Investigator(s): View help for Principal Investigator(s) Gordon Dahl, University of California-San Diego; Matthew Knepper, University of Georgia

Version: View help for Version V1

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data			06/26/2022 06:22:PM
do-files			09/30/2022 06:56:PM
excel-figures			06/26/2022 06:25:PM
figures-and-tables			06/26/2022 06:26:PM
readme.pdf	application/pdf	194.7 KB	09/30/2022 08:21:AM

Project Citation:

Dahl, Gordon, and Knepper, Matthew. Data and Code for: Age Discrimination across the Business Cycle. Nashville, TN: American Economic Association [publisher], 2023. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2023-10-18. https://doi.org/10.3886/E160101V1

Project Description

Summary: We test whether age discrimination rises during recessions using two complementary analyses. Confidential 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 plausible 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%.

*This repository includes the (non-proprietary) data and programs used to generate the analysis for the manuscript, "Age Discrimination across the Business Cycle." Instructions for how to apply for access to confidential EEOC microdata are included.*

Scope of Project

Subject Terms: age discrimination; recessions

JEL Classification:
      J23 Labor Demand
      J64 Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search
      J71 Labor Discrimination

Geographic Coverage: EEOC analysis- United States, correspondence study analysis- Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Omaha, Pittsburgh, Portland (ME), Sacramento, and Tampa

Time Period(s): 1/1/2005 – 9/30/2010 (EEOC analysis); 10/1/2011 – 12/31/2015 (EEOC analysis); 3/2012 – 8/2017 (correspondence study analysis)

Universe: EEOC analysis- all hiring and firing-related age discrimination charges (with a non-missing industry code) filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

correspondence study- set of fictitious resumes of college-educated females between the ages of 35 and 58 who are applying to administrative support positions.

Data Type(s): aggregate data; experimental data; program source code

Methodology

Response Rate: Correspondence study analysis- Study data obtained from the following papers:

Farber, Henry S., Dan Silverman, and Till M. Von Wachter. "Factors determining callbacks to job applications by the unemployed: An audit study." RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences 3, no. 3 (2017): 168-201.
Farber, Henry S., Chris M. Herbst, Dan Silverman, and Till Von Wachter. "Whom do employers want? The role of recent employment and unemployment status and age." Journal of Labor Economics 37, no. 2 (2019): 323-349.

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Published Versions

V1 [2023-10-18]

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