National Bureau of Economic Research (Photo: Public Domain)
Reported by The New York Times, a National Bureau of Economic Research study of personal names revealed discrimination amongst job applicants: “On average, they found, employers contacted the presumed white applicants 9.5 percent more often than the presumed Black applicants.” “Distinctively white names” (such as “Todd” and “Allison”) and “distinctively black names” (such as “Lakisha” and “Leroy”) included names commonly-used by families of each racial background. The study found that two companies had the largest racial gap amongst their applicants and fourteen companies had the smallest racial gap amongst their applicants. Read the full study from the National Bureau of Economic Research and the report from The New York Times.