Not sure how accurate this study is, since someone brought it up in another thread thought I post it. Australian study: racism when hiring By | | 17 July Email to a friend Print Increased Text Decreased Text A foreign or indigenous-sounding name gives people less chance of landing a job in Australia, a study has found. Unless your name sounds Italian and you're in Melbourne, in which case it can be an advantage. Australian National University researchers Alison Booth, Andrew Leigh and Elena Vargonova sent out 4000 fake job applications to employers advertising on the internet for entry-level hospitality, data entry, customer service and sales jobs, changing only the racial origin of the supposed applicants' names. Applicants with Chinese names fared the worst, having only a one-in-five chance of getting asked in for interviews, compared to applicants with Anglo-Saxon names whose chances exceeded one-in-three. Typically a Chinese-named applicant would need to put in 68 per cent more applications than an Anglo-named applicant to get the same number of calls back. A Middle Eastern-named applicant needed 64 per cent more, an indigenous-named applicant 35 per cent more and an Italian-named applicant 12 per cent more. But the results varied by city. Sydney employers were generally more discriminatory than those in Melbourne or Brisbane, except when it came to indigenous names, where they were more accepting. But only in Melbourne was there a type of non-Anglo name that was actually loved. Melbourne employers were 7 per cent more likely to respond well to someone with an Italian name than they were to an Anglo name. Asked to guess why, Dr Leigh hastened to point out that the 7 per cent bias in favour of Italian-sounding names was not statistically significant. "But what it does allow you to say is that there is no statistically discernible discrimination against Italian names in Melbourne. They are as well-regarded as Anglo names. "This could be because Melbourne has a higher share of Italians than other Australian cities, and has had for a long time. Discrimination tends to be higher when you have a recent influx of arrivals, as Sydney has from China and the Middle East. "Or it could be because many of the jobs we pretended to apply for were waiter and waitressing positions in bistros, bars, cafes and restaurants." Asked whether the study had found that Australian employers were racist, Dr Leigh said it was clear they discriminated on the basis of the racial origin of applicants' names. "There is no other reasonable interpretation of our results," he said. The fake applications had made clear that the supposed job-seekers had completed secondary schooling in Australia, making it unlikely that the employers had assumed the non-Anglo applicants could not speak English. A similar study carried out in the US found that applicants with African-American-sounding names needed to submit 50 per cent more applications than white applicants to get the same number of interviews, suggesting that Australian employers were more prejudiced, except when it came to Italians and Australians with indigenous names. http://thebigchair.com.au/news/focus/racism-when-hiring
Probably not accurate, but probably true to some extent. Despite being a "multicultural society", things like this almost definitely exist.
I'm not surprised at all. It's probably not 100% accurate, but likely more so than not. Perhaps the Australians are just starting to realize their own shortcomings. Anti-Asian racism isn't anything new, especially Anti-Chinese racism. It has existed in some form one way or another ever since employment seeking Chinese have arrived on foreign shores. The US used to have actual legislation, that is, laws that specifically prohibited Chinese from from even setting foot into the US. Some countries deal with it better in terms of affirmative action, legislation to prevent or seriously punish bias crimes, et cetera. However, much of what racism is centers on how people are brought up and what they're exposed to. Further, racism and bias certainly isn't the exclusive province of the white man; Asians can be just as bad. Spoiler
Same in Australia. There was a policy where only English speaking, white migrants were allowed to enter Australia about 100 years ago. You had to pass a dictation test, which could be given in any language they chose. Very discrimintory - If they didn't like the colour of your skin/race, they could give it to you in some random language.
I don't think it was "awesomeness" per se, but rather sheer competitiveness. Chinese people historically undertook the dirtiest, most dangerous jobs, and often for only a fraction of the cost. Local or native labor feared the economics. Sorta like the way things are now, LOL...
This article reminds me of a job ad my friend saw in Sydney. The ad said "waiter/waitress wanted." and on the bottom it said something like "white people only" or White only"...
I'm not sure that in any western country, that they could get away with an overt documentation of racism like that in these days. I know in the US, there use to be such things but they've all gone sub rosa (practiced in secret so to speak) and not openly. Having the actual racist hiring intent printed in a want ad, would provide ample evidence for unfair or discriminatory hiring; a civil and legal liability. Racists are a socially malignant lot, but they're certainly in no way stupid. If anything, they become rather careful to hide their attitudes in open society, only speaking in certain ways to certain people.
