Racial Labour Market Discrimination in Austria

This study seeks to find evidence for racial discrimination in Austria's labour market for internships. We sent 372 application letters from fictional candidates to firms within Austria, two with an Austrian name and two with a Turkish name. Candidates with a Turkish-sounding name get invited to a job interview in 22% of all cases, while candidates with an Austrian-sounding name get a positive callback in 27% of all cases. With a correspondence test and regression techniques we provide evidence that statistically signicant discrimination exists under certain assumptions. The differential treatment seems to be independent of field of occupation, sector, and region. However, discrimination is less pronounced in urban areas. According to our findings, racial discrimination is still an important issue in Austria's labour market. Concluding, we provide implications for existing theory and policy.