Race Bias in Hiring2024n = 83,000
9.5% Black callback gap; 20% of firms drive half of it (n=83K+)
An audit of 108 of the largest US employers using 83,000+ fictitious applications found Black-named applicants received 2.1 percentage points fewer contacts (~9.5% lower callback rate); ~20% of firms accounted for nearly half the racial gap.
Primary source
Kline, Rose & Walters, NBER WP 29053
https://www.nber.org/papers/w29053Published 2024 — sample n = 83,000 — compiled by JobCannon Research.
Why this stat matters
This figure belongs to the race bias in hiringvertical of JobCannon's ongoing review of hiring, AI, and career-outcome research. We track it because it is one of the few primary-source estimates with a published sample, methodology, or legal record. Cite the original source first; this page exists to make the figure easy to find and link to.
Related stats
- Whitened resumes doubled Black-candidate callbacks (10% to 25%)Kang, DeCelles, Tilcsik & Jun, Administrative Science Quarterly — 2016
- White-sounding names +50% more callbacks vs Black-sounding names (AER 2004, n~5K)Bertrand & Mullainathan, American Economic Review 94(4) — 2004
- No decline in racial hiring discrimination over 25 years -- 36% white callback advantage (PNAS)Quillian, Pager, Hexel & Midtboen, PNAS 114(41) — 2017
- LLMs preferred white-associated names 85% vs 9% Black (n>3M)Wilson & Caliskan, AIES 2024 (NIST-funded) — 2024
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