A field study of age discrimination in the workplace: the importance of gender and race‒pay the gap
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/ER-06-2021-0277 |
| Published date | 27 September 2022 |
| Date | 27 September 2022 |
| Pages | 304-327 |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour,Industrial/labour relations,Employment law |
| Author | Nick Drydakis,Anna Paraskevopoulou,Vasiliki Bozani |
A field study of age discrimination
in the workplace: the importance
of gender and race‒pay the gap
Nick Drydakis and Anna Paraskevopoulou
Faculty of Business and Law, Centre for Pluralist Economics,
Anglia Ruskin University–Cambridge Campus, Cambridge, UK, and
Vasiliki Bozani
Economics Research Centre, University of Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus
Abstract
Purpose –The study examines whether age intersects with gender and race during the initial stage of the
hiring process and affects access to vacancies outcomes and wage sorting.
Design/methodology/approach–In order to answer the research question, the study collects data from four
simultaneous field experiments in England. The study compares the labour market outcomes of younger White
British men with those of older White British men and women, and with those of older Black British men and
women. The study concentrates on low-skilled vacancies in hospitality and sales in the private sector.
Findings –The results of this study indicate that older White Britishmen and women, as well as older Black
British men and women, experience occupational access constraints and are sorted into lower-paid jobs than
younger White British men. The level of age discrimination is found to be higher for Black British men and
women. In addition, Black British women experience the highest level of age discrimination. These patterns
may well be in line with prejudices against racial minority groups and stereotypical sexist beliefs that the
physical strengths and job performance of women decline earlier than those do for men.
Practical implications –If prejudices against older individuals are present, then anti-discrimination
legislation may be the appropriate response, especially for racial minorities and women. Eliminating age
discrimination in selection requires firms to adopt inclusive human resources (HR) policies at the earliest stages
of the recruitment process.
Originality/value –This research presents for the first-time comparisons of access to vacancies and wage
sorting between younger male racial majorities and older male racial majorities, older female racial majorities,
older male racial minorities, and older female racial minorities. In addition, the driven mechanism of the
assigned differences is explored. Because the study has attempted to minimise the negative employer
stereotypes vis-
a-vis older employees, with respect to the employees’motivation, productivity, and health, such
prejudices against older individuals may be considered taste-based discrimination.
Keywords Age discrimination, Women, Racial minorities, Intersectionality, Access to occupations, Wages
Paper type Research paper
ER
45,2
304
JEL Classification —C93, C9, J14, J1
The authors thank the journal’s Editor-in-Chief, Dr Dennis Nickson, the journal’s Associate Editor Dr
Wendy Loretto, and two anonymous reviewers for feedback on the manuscript.
Availability of data and material: The data appendix, codes and original software estimates have been
provided to the journal and reviewers during the initial submission and revisions. The data that support
the findings of this study are available on reasonable requests.
Code availability: The data appendix, codes and original software tables have been provided to the
journal and reviewers during the initial submission and revisions. The codes that support the findings of
this study are available on reasonable requests.
Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest: The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial
interests to disclose.
Ethical approval: The study was performed in accordance with the ethical standards as laid down in
the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Approval
was obtained from the ethics committee of Anglia Ruskin University, UK.
Informed consent: Not applicable.
Funding: The authors did not receive financial support from any organisation for the submitted work.
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
https://www.emerald.com/insight/0142-5455.htm
Received 23 June 2021
Revised 6 December 2021
3 August 2022
Accepted 31 August 2022
Employee Relations: The
International Journal
Vol. 45 No. 2, 2023
pp. 304-327
© Emerald Publishing Limited
0142-5455
DOI 10.1108/ER-06-2021-0277
1. Introduction
United Nations estimates that the population of people in their 60s will increase in most
countries by 2050 (United Nations, 2017a). People may have to work longer and the number of
older people seeking work might also increase (Age UK, 2011;Feyer, 2007). Although most
countries provide some legal protection against age discrimination [1], negative stereotypes
persist in many areas of life (Ayalon and Tesch-R€
omer, 2018) leading to the exclusion of older
workers from the labour market (Berde and M
ag
o, 2022;Stypi
nska and Nikander, 2018) and,
therefore, affecting their security and their overall wellbeing (Woods et al., 2013). A major
review study found that ageism is manifested in a plurality of ways, such as obstacles in the
hiring process, employability, and the performance evaluation of older workers (Cebola
et al., 2021).
The present study explores the extent to which chronological age intersects with
other characteristics, such as gender and race, and has an impact on the recruitment
process (Neumark et al., 2019;Drydakis et al., 2018a). Although there are studies that
examine the role of age or the role of gender and race on employment outcomes, there are
only few that try to understand how the three characteristics –age, gender and race –
intersect and shape recruitment decisions (Lahey and Oxley, 2021). The present research
builds upon previous work by Drydakis et al. (2018a) that compared outcomes for young
and old Black and White applicants in low skilled positions. This study adds the
characteristic of gender in order to better understand employment discrimination on the
basis of socially constructed identities. Petersen and Saporta (2004) explain how difficult
it is to uncover discrimination [2] during recruitment, and therefore, the study suggests
that the outcomes of this research will assist policy makers in finding remedies to tackle
discriminatory practices such as refusing to hire workers from minority groups or to
provide lower wages to workers from minority groups and thus contributing further to
pay gaps based on minority characteristics. The present study, therefore, indicates that
measuring intersections is crucial for inclusivity in the workplace (Centre for Ageing
Better, 2021a).
Age is the primary focus of this study because the United Nations (2017b) states that
age is a critical factor for an individual in being hired or dismissed, offered training,
promotion or when salary levels are being decided upon (United Nations, 2017a). Indeed, in
2017 a staggering 70.8 per cent of UK employees revealed that age discrimination is
common in their workplace, rising to 85.3 per cent amongst those aged between 55 and
64 years old (CV-Library, 2017). A UK Government report published in 2018 showed that
despite the existence of anti-age discrimination since 2006, practices based on stereotyped
and prejudiced notions about age are still widespread in many workplaces (House of
Commons, 2018). Furthermore, a recent Eurobarometer survey (2019), found that age
discrimination in the UK is more widespread than gender discrimination, 51 versus 44%,
respectively (Eurobarometer, 2019). More importantly, the present study focusses also on
gender and race because scarce research indicates that age often intersects with core
demographic characteristics(Neumark et al., 2019;United Nations, 2017b). For instance, in
the US, older women have been found to experience age discrimination more frequently
than older men, in addition to being disadvantaged on the basis of their gender (Neumark
et al., 2019). Similarly, in the UK research found that age intersects with race, affecting
workplaceoutcomes(Drydakis et al., 2018a).
This study investigates age discrimination in the labour market during the initial stage of
the hiring process. Hard discrimination is associated with matters directly relevant to
employment decisions, such as hiring a person (Stypi
nska and Turek, 2017). To provide
direct evidence of potential age discrimination, the present research collects data from four
simultaneous field experiments conducted between 2017 and 2018 in England. The purpose
of the experiments is to test for age discrimination against older British White and British
Age, gender
and race bias in
the workplace
305
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