Gender-targeted job ads in the recruitment process: Facts from a Chinese job board

• DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2020.102531
• Publication Date: 2020-08-15T01:16:23Z
• Authors: Peter Kuhn; Kailing Shen; Shuo Zhang
• Keywords: 0502 economics and business; 05 social sciences

Abstract We study how explicit employer requests for applicants of a particular gender enter the recruitment process on a Chinese job board, focusing on two questions: First, to what extent do employers’ requests affect the gender mix of a firm’s applicant pool? Second, how ‘hard’ are employers’ stated gender requests-- are they essential requirements, soft preferences, or something in between? Using internal data from a Chinese job board, we estimate that an explicit request for men raises men’s share in the applicant pool by 14.6 percentage points, or 26.4%; requests for women raises the female applicant share by 24.6 percentage points, or 55.0%. Men (women) who apply to gender-mismatched jobs also experience a substantial call-back penalty of 24 (43) percent. Thus, explicit gender requests do shape applicant pools, and signal a substantial but not absolute preference for the requested gender.