Age Bias in Hiring2019n = 40,000
Age 64-66: 35% fewer callbacks vs 29-31 year olds (n=40K+ applications, JOLE 2019)
A correspondence study sending 40,000+ fictitious applications found workers aged 64-66 received roughly 35% fewer callbacks than otherwise-identical 29-31-year-old applicants for white-collar jobs; a smaller but significant 18% penalty was observed beginning at age 50.
Primary source
Neumark, Burn & Button, Journal of Labor Economics 37(S1)
https://www.nber.org/papers/w22580Published 2019 — sample n = 40,000 — compiled by JobCannon Research.
Why this stat matters
This figure belongs to the age 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.
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