Turkish, Arabic names experience greatest bias in Germany’s job market

Turkish, Arabic names experience greatest bias in Germany’s job market
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A study by the University of Siegen, cited by the Daily Sabah, found that job applicants with Turkish and Arabic names face the highest level of bias in Germany’s job market. The study, which sent out applications with different names but similar qualifications, revealed that applicants with Arabic or Turkish names were far less likely to receive a response than those with German names.

Other research confirms this bias. A field experiment by the Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) found that a German-sounding name increased the probability of a callback by about 14%. The study also revealed that a female applicant with a Turkish name who wore a headscarf had to send 4.5 times as many applications to receive the same number of callbacks as a woman with a German name and no headscarf. Another study, by ResearchGate, found that a German name raised the average callback probability by 14%, with the effect being particularly strong at smaller firms.

However, other studies offer a more nuanced perspective. One paper published on Taylor & Francis Online found that while discrimination against Turkish minorities exists in Germany, it is significantly higher in the Netherlands. In that study, job candidates of Turkish origin were found to be five percentage points less likely to receive a callback than equally qualified candidates in Germany, but fifteen percentage points less likely in the Netherlands.