Hiring Processes in Male- and Female-Dominated Occupations: Evidence for Gendered Scarring due to Unemployment

Spells of unemployment have been shown to negatively affect the hiring chances of job applicants. These so-called "scarring effects" might be gender-specific due to gender bias in recruiters' hiring decisions. However, systematic analyses of the conditions under which scarring effects become gender-specific are missing. Against this background, we examine how gender and the duration of unemployment interactively shape recruiters' hiring decisions.

We use data from a multinational factorial survey experiment among recruiters conducted in Switzerland and Norway. By focusing on a male-dominated (mechanics) and a female-dominated occupation (nursing), we test the hypothesis that gendered role expectations affect recruiters' hiring decisions towards unemployed men and women.

We find, overall, evidence for heterogeneous scarring effects. By constituting new evidence on gender differences in scarring due to unemployment, this study contributes to our understanding of the demand-side barriers to successful and "gender-equal" transitions to employment.