You will probably have felt unfairly treated at some point, feeling that you were not given the same benefits or opportunities as the people around you. This situation increases if, in addition, you belong to a vulnerable group or minority, either because of your ethnicity, nationality, gender, place of residence, sexual condition or physical/mental capacity, among others.

Discrimination is not only undesirable from a personal, ethical, and social point of view, as it prevents people from fully enjoying their lives and reaching their full potential. It is also undesirable from an economic point of view, as discrimination limits people’s opportunities to fully develop and prosper economically, negatively impacting poverty and inequality.

Moreover, discrimination not only has a short-term impact by preventing people from accessing immediate opportunities. It can also have medium and long-term effects, affecting self-esteem and self-perception. This, therefore, conditions a discriminated person’s decisions to participate in future development opportunities, perpetuating the cycle of exclusion.

At the IDB we work to improve the lives of Latin Americans and Caribbean people. That is why we are researching discrimination against different vulnerable groups in different areas. With what objective? We want to learn how to reduce discrimination and, thus, maximize development opportunities for the region’s most disadvantaged population. Today we start a series of articles where we will be explaining our progress in these studies. Would you like to know some of our results? Keep reading for more details.

Discrimination in employment based on place of residence:

Our study looks for evidence to learn how a person’s place of residence influences his/her chances of finding a job. If you live in an informal neighborhood, are you less likely to be hired, and will your pay be the same as if you lived in a formal neighborhood?

Our study, available here, used a matching methodology to measure discrimination in access to the labor market for people living in vulnerable neighborhoods. To do this, we sent nearly 4,000 pairs of resumes to real jobs. The resumes were from ideal candidates for the job being offered, with the same training, same experience, etc. However, they differed in only one thing: some candidates lived in an informal vulnerable neighborhood and the others in a formal neighborhood. The employer response rate was 30% higher for those living in the formal neighborhood. Read more…

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