Civil servants created false identities to send CVs to hundreds of employers in sting to uncover discrimination.
Hat tip to Angela Shaw who sent me this article from the guardian.co.uk.
A government sting operation targeting hundreds of employers across Britain has uncovered widespread racial discrimination against workers with African and Asian names.
Researchers sent nearly 3,000 job applications under false identities in an attempt to discover if employers were discriminating against jobseekers with foreign names. Using names recognisably from three different communities – Nazia Mahmood, Mariam Namagembe and Alison Taylor – false identities were created with similar experience and qualifications. Every false applicant had British education and work histories.
They found that an applicant who appeared to be white would send nine applications before receiving a positive response of either an invitation to an interview or an encouraging telephone call. Minority candidates with the same qualifications and experience had to send 16 applications before receiving a similar response.
Read the full article on the Guradian website.
That’s terrrible. They need to do more of these studies to show what a big problem it is, and to eventually penalise this or discourage it in some way. (suggestions?)
On another hand, you’ve misspelled Guardian, which is hillarious because they’re well known for making proof-reading mistakes of their own. That’s why they call it the Grauniad.
And British Nationap Party Leader, newly elected at EU Parliament, suggesting that they should sink boats bringing Africans into Europe, if such statements are allowed to be broadcasted, then,we really have something to worry about.