Conference Agenda

Research on hiring discrimination in the labor market has often applied experimental designs to understand whether employers discriminate due to personal biases or preferences against specific groups—which may contradict rational economic behavior (taste-based discrimination)—or due to stereotypical views about certain groups (statistical discrimination). A variety of experimental designs have been applied to uncover this difference, as mainstream data are often ineffective in distinguishing between them. Most used methodologies for this purpose are field experiments; however, a major limitation is that they can often only analyze the initial screening stage of the hiring process, making it impossible to gain insights about discrimination throughout the entire hiring process and in career advancement opportunities. In this study, we contribute to previous research on labor market discrimination processes, by setting-up a factorial survey experiment, evaluating the impact of gender and ethnic discrimination for the Italian job market, which has not been profoundly studied yet. We examine whether discrimination takes place during the hiring process, and results in career-advancement discrimination, evaluating whether it is taste- or statistical-based.

While societal changes contribute to the progressive de-standardization of individual life courses, social circumstances—particularly social origin and gender— and institutions continue to shape economic opportunities. Nevertheless, key questions remain open: How do ascribed characteristics influence the development of employment trajectories? Which trajectory factors most influence economic disparities in later life stages, especially between men and women? Do structural and institutional contextual conditions influence these patterns? And thus, do they vary across cohorts and within Europe? To address these gaps, we build upon Cheng’s seminal Life Course Trajectory Framework, incorporating inter- and intra-generational components. We conceptualise trajectories and their stratification in terms of initial advantage, trajectory heterogeneity, cumulative advantage, and instability. Using prospective and retrospective data from SHARE and SHARELIFE, we offer a detailed characterization of individual trajectories between and within social origin and sex and assess their explanatory power for gendered economic inequalities at occupational maturity in 15 European countries. Initial descriptive evidence confirms that ascribed factors influence how individuals’ trajectories and later life economic inequality emerge, with significant contextual differences that indicates a primary role of institutions.

Social stratification research often focuses on (binary) gender, class and ethnicity as characteristics that stratify people’s lives. Recently, researchers have started drawing attention to sexual orientation as a characteristic that shapes people’s opportunities in life. LGB people earn less than heterosexual men, but often more than heterosexual women. However, previous research has likely underestimated the role of sexual and gender identity in earnings by studying a limited set of identities. We address this limitation by including sexual identities that go beyond lesbian, gay and bisexual identities, as well as trans* and non-binary people.

We use data from a representative survey in Norway that is complemented with earnings data from administrative records on 8,830 individuals of which 1,058 have a non-heterosexual identity and 199 persons are trans* or non-binary. Sexual and gender identities that further challenge norms regarding sexuality and gender, such as, pansexual, asexual, trans* and non-binary are all related to strong earnings penalties, also once compared to gay and lesbian individuals. Because identities available to people change over time and place, using measures that only capture a restricted number of identities complicates comparisons across contexts, especially if people with emerging identities are particularly disadvantaged in the labour market.

This paper investigates the key determinants of early-career mobility choices among young workers, examining how migration decisions are shaped by individual preferences. To this aim, we analyze the role of several critical factors underlying the phenomenon of brain drain, exploring the conditions under which the attractiveness of a local labor market can be enhanced, potentially reversing brain drain into brain circulation. Focusing on the Swiss canton of Ticino as a relevant case study, we construct a unique dataset by running a survey among graduates from both the Università della Svizzera italiana, which offers academic education, and the University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland, which provides professional training. This allows us to evaluate the relative importance assigned by heterogeneous workers with different educational background to factors such as career opportunities, wages, work-life balance, quality of life, as well as familiar, social and territorial ties. While preferences depend on the educational background, our findings suggest that career perspectives and work flexibility are the most prominent drivers of mobility choices. These results contribute to the economic and political debate on the most effective policy interventions that should be implemented to facilitate talent retention and attraction, especially in regions facing demographic challenges.