Anonymous job application and discrimination

Anonymous job application is a policy measure which aims to eliminate discrimination during the job assignment process by concealing personal characteristics of applicants from employers. This paper provides evidence of discrimination and the effectiveness of anonymous job application with respect to the invitation for a job interview on the basis of two experiments in Nijmegen. This evidence is especially founded on an analysis in which the same groups of departments of the public sector of Nijmegen with and without anonymous job application are compared. Anonymous job application always results in non-discriminatory decisions of employers with respect to the invitation of the applicants for a job interview. There is neither in the groups with anonymous job application, nor in the other groups evidence of discrimination with respect to the hiring of the applicants, which takes place after the job interview. According to those results the discriminatory behavior of employers with respect to the invitation for a job interview is only explainable by theoretical models of statistical discrimination and anonymous job application always eliminates discrimination during the whole job assignment process. There is no convincing evidence of negative effects of anonymous job application on the efficiency of the application procedures in the short term. Finally, the evidence of „hidden discrimination‟, revealed by „over-qualified‟ immigrant applicants, shows that the effects of anonymous job application are even larger.