Labour Market
How clicks on a job platform can reveal bias
Scientists at ETH Zurich have leveraged big data from recruitment platforms and machine learning to study hiring discrimination. They show that discrimination against immigrants depends, among other things, on the time of day; and that both men and women face discrimination. The study was supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) and has been published in the renowned scientific journal external pageNature.
More information on the study and the results can be found here.
Publications
Other Contributions
Between market power and labour rights: the impact of the seasonal worker statute on immigrants’ wages
Switzerland’s seasonal worker statute, which was abolished in 2002, tied residence permits to employers. According to the monopsony theory, such regulation gives employers greater bargaining power in wage-setting and could depress wages. This article analyses this hypothesis and suggests that immigrants’ social and economic rights – strengthened by the free movement of people – may have helped to reduce wage differentials.
How can gender-specific differences in higher education be overcome?
Women are still under-represented in managerial positions in the academic sector. A programme for female professors in Germany aims to change this. An ongoing study involving KOF is investigating the success of this support programme.
The free movement of people has had no impact on the number of apprenticeships
Has the free movement of people had a negative impact on Swiss firms’ willingness to train apprentices? A new study shows that the number of apprenticeships did not fall during the first few years following the opening of the country’s border. However, the reasons why firms train apprentices has changed because it has become easier and cheaper for them to recruit suitable workers externally.
Labour market restrictions on refugees
Restricting employment opportunities for refugees reduces their likelihood of working and earning in the long term. This imposes high costs on refugees and host societies.
“There are winners and losers of immigration”
KOF economist Andreas Beerli explains in an interview why immigration is desirable from an economic point of view and in which areas Switzerland still needs to improve.