It probably has to do with the fact that ethnic stereotypes are generally stronger for men than for women, says sociologist Magnus Bygren.
Together with his colleague Moa Bursell, he sent out more than 7,000 made-up job applications for 15 different types of jobs advertised in the Swedish Public Employment Service's job bank. Some of the applications were given names from the former Yugoslavia or Arabic names from the Middle East, the rest typical Swedish names.
A clear pattern was seen in employers' feedback on the applications. In industries where many foreign-born people already work, the last name does not seem to play any role in the response.
In the survey, cleaning and driver jobs stood out - there was no difference at all. But for jobs such as teachers, preschool teachers and IT technicians, the last name seemed to play a bigger role in whether employers would contact them to schedule a job interview or get more information about the applicant. This was despite equivalent qualifications.
Gradually decreasing
Discrimination gradually decreases the more foreign-born people there are in an industry, the researchers note, and believe this contributes to segregation in the labour market.
This discrimination thing is a very automatic reaction, says Magnus Bygren.
In some cases, it may be a conscious policy on the part of the employer, but often it is a matter of preferring what you are used to, he says.
So what should you do if you have a last name that doesn't sound Swedish and want a job?
You should remember that even if you have the “wrong” name, you can still get a match if you just keep searching. It’s not impossible. It’s a lower probability, but it’s not zero.
“Important to be aware”
Magnus Bygren emphasizes that discrimination is strongest in the first step, when contact is made.
If you just manage to get your foot in the door or manage to get an initial meeting, discrimination will decrease.
The data for the study was collected between 2013 and 2018, but he is convinced that it reflects how things still look.
"It is important to be aware that the patterns exist, both for those with an immigrant background and on the employer side. You can consider not acting based on these patterns," he says.
