Age Discrimination, an Audit Study: 2002-2003 in Boston, Massachusetts, and St. Petersburg, Florida (ICPSR 23980)

Principal Investigator(s): Lahey, Joanna, Texas A and M University; Costa, Dora, University of California-Los Angeles

Summary: As baby boomers reach retirement age, demographic pressures on public programs may cause policy makers to cut benefits and encourage employment at later ages. But how much demand exists for older workers? This study focuses on a field experiment to determine hiring conditions for women ages 35 to 62 in entry-level or close to entry-level jobs in Boston, Massachusetts and St. Petersburg, Florida. Pairs of computer-randomized resumes were sent to employers in these two cities. Response rates wer... (more info)

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Lahey, Joanna, and Dora Costa. Age Discrimination, an Audit Study: 2002-2003 in Boston, Massachusetts, and St. Petersburg, Florida. ICPSR23980-v1. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2011-02-23. doi:10.3886/ICPSR23980.v1

Persistent URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR23980.v1

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This survey was funded by:

• United States Department of Health and Human Services. National Institutes of Health. National Institute on Aging (T32-AG00186)
• National Science Foundation (2387480)

Summary:  

As baby boomers reach retirement age, demographic pressures on public programs may cause policy makers to cut benefits and encourage employment at later ages. But how much demand exists for older workers? This study focuses on a field experiment to determine hiring conditions for women ages 35 to 62 in entry-level or close to entry-level jobs in Boston, Massachusetts and St. Petersburg, Florida. Pairs of computer-randomized resumes were sent to employers in these two cities. Response rates were measured by age, as indicated on each resume by date of high school graduation. Applicants' working history, job choice, certifications, volunteer experience as well as their education and age have been evaluated in this study. Other questions focused on job advertisement and interviewing process.

Subject Terms:   age discrimination, employment, employment qualifications, hiring practices, job opportunities, job requirements, older workers

Smallest Geographic Unit:   state

Geographic Coverage:   Boston, Florida, Massachusetts, St. Petersburg, United States

Time Period:  

• 2002-02--2003-02

Date of Collection:  

• 2002-02--2003-02

Unit of Observation:   firms

Universe:   Firms in the greater Boston, Massachusetts, and St. Petersburg, Florida, areas that advertised for entry-level employment positions between February 2002 and February 2003.

Data Types:   experimental data

Data Collection Notes:

For contextual information about the variables in the data collection, please see: Lahey, Joanna N. "Age, Women, and Hiring: An Experimental Study." Journal of Human Resources 43.1 (2008): 30-56.

Sample:   For sampling information, please see: Lahey, Joanna N. "Age, Women, and Hiring: An Experimental Study." Journal of Human Resources 43.1 (2008): 30-56.

Weight:   none

Mode of Data Collection:   mixed mode

Response Rates:   Massachusetts: 10.3 percent any response, Florida: 11.67 percent any response

Extent of Processing:  ICPSR data undergo a confidentiality review and are altered when necessary to limit the risk of disclosure. ICPSR also routinely creates ready-to-go data files along with setups in the major statistical software formats as well as standard codebooks to accompany the data. In addition to these procedures, ICPSR performed the following processing steps for this data collection:

• Created variable labels and/or value labels.
• Performed recodes and/or calculated derived variables.
• Checked for undocumented or out-of-range codes.

Original ICPSR Release:  2011-02-23

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