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Swedish study confirms foreign name CV bias

Researchers have found that job applicants with Swedish sounding names are 50 percent more likely to be called back for an interview than people with Arabic names, based on a randomly generated experiment with CV and cover letters.

Published: 5 April 2013 17:26 CEST
Swedish study confirms foreign name CV bias

“We’re not so surprised because we knew there was a lot of discrimination in the labour market,” Lund University PhD candidate Rickard Carlsson told The Local.

“We were more disappointed that appearing warm and confident was not enough for job seekers to avoid discrimination altogether.”

Carlsson and his colleagues carried out a study in which over 5,500 CVs and cover letters were randomly generated and sent out to job announcements. Rather than just sending out the same letters with different names, the team randomly generated a mix of experiences and character traits, assigning a mix of fictional Arabic and Swedish names.

“We chose Arabic names because they are treated the worst. They’re in the poorest position when it comes to stereotypes in Sweden, and we were specifically targeting characteristics of warmth and competence. Arabs are often thought to have neither.”

SEE ALSO: Click here for the latest listings for jobs in Sweden

The study revealed that the letters with the Swedish names had a 50 percent higher call back for interview when compared to the Arabic names.

“Of course, I have to emphasize that there can be bad luck in reality when it comes to getting job interviews, but there is a clear difference. But even so, it’s important to give the message that it’s not hopeless. If anything, foreign job seekers can learn from this,” Carlsson said.

He added that employers don’t take traits for granted, and that foreigners shouldn’t hesitate to disprove stereotypes in their letters.

“For Swedes, this random test shows just as much that a poor personal letter may get them through the door on the merit of their name…just as much as it shows that Arabs don’t get through based on their name.

“You need to safeguard yourself, understand there is a discrimination, and just try harder with the letter. It’s in no means pointless to apply for a job. Tell employers that you play football in your spare time, carefully explain who you are and fight the stereotypes with your letter,” he told The Local.

Carlsson explained that stereotypes don’t just affect the Arab community, with Germans often thought of as cold, and Greeks as less competent.

He added that employers should try to be more objective in their recruitment process, and that society needs to work to reduce the stereotypes.

While Carlsson said that unusual cases occasionally crop up such as the Romanian student in Uppsala who found greater success when he changed his name to sound more Swedish, such incidents are just a small snapshot that don’t paint a complete picture of Sweden’s discrimination problems.

“A truly randomized experiment really increased the field and allowed a fuller scope of what’s actually happening,” he said.

Oliver Gee

Follow Oliver on Twitter here

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Which regions in Germany need foreign engineers?

Germany’s worker shortage is hitting the engineering sector hard, and there are huge differences in worker shortages between the regions. The Association of German Engineers (VDI) is calling for Germany to be more welcoming to foreign engineers in order to fill the gaps.

Published: 12 May 2023 15:52 CEST
Which regions in Germany need foreign engineers?

What’s going on?

Germany is currently facing a worsening shortage of skilled workers, with employers struggling to fill around 630,000 job vacancies in various industries. The engineering sector is particularly affected and saw a 21.6 percent increase in vacancies in the fourth quarter of 2022 compared to the same period in 2021.

According to the latest figures from the Association of German Enginners (VDI), there are currently 170,300 vacancies for engineers.

READ ALSO: ‘600,000 vacancies’: Why Germany’s skilled worker shortage is greater than ever

There’s a particular shortage of civil engineers, computer scientists and electrical engineers which is leading to hold-ups in public construction and digitalisation projects.

Which regions are particularly struggling?

Though there are shortages everywhere, there is a widening gap between the numbers of foreign engineers in large cities and those in rural areas.

In Munich, for example, foreign nationals make up almost 13 percent of the total number of engineers. In the Stranberg district of the city, more than one in four engineers are foreigners.

The employment of foreigners in engineering professions is highest in Berlin where they make up 18.6 percent of engineers, followed by Hamburg with 13.3 per cent and Bavaria with 12.7 per cent. Schleswig-Holstein has the lowest proportion of foreigners out of the western German states with a share of 4.9 per cent.

Employees of the Tesla Gigafactory Berlin Brandenburg work on a production line of a Model Y electric vehicle. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Patrick Pleul

In eastern states like Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Saxony-Anhalt, foreign engineers are few and far between, despite being desperately needed.

There are also differences between the states in terms of the types of engineers needed. For example, in the last quarter of 2022, the total number of vacancies in information technology jobs in Hesse increased by 49.7 per cent, in Baden-Württemberg by 45.2 per cent and in Berlin/Brandenburg by 40.1 per cent, while the number in Rhineland-Palatinate/Saarland decreased by 23.5 per cent.

READ ALSO: Germany sees ‘over 550 percent increase’ in Indian IT workers over decade

The demand for civil engineering jobs, however, decreased significantly in Berlin/Brandenburg (-3.8 per cent), Saxony (-7.7 per cent) and Saxony-Anhalt/Thuringia (-7.8 per cent).

According to the VDI, the huge differences in the proportion of foreign engineers mainly depend on which universities and companies there are in the region.

If there are technical universities with lots of foreign students, this increases the proportion of engineers with foreign passports in the region.

The presence of factories or international corporations has a similar effect. For example, the proportion of foreign engineers in the Oder-Spree district in Brandenburg was stuck at two to three percent for a long time. But at the end of 2020, that figure tripled within a few months – thanks to the car manufacturer Tesla opening a factory there.

Germany needs to be “more welcoming” to foreigners

Head of the VDI, Dieter Westerkamp has said that without a strong influx of foreign skilled workers, Germany will not be able to close the gap in the labour market for engineers and that this could ultimately slow down Germany’s economic development.

READ ALSO: IN DEPTH: Are Germany’s immigration offices making international residents feel unwelcome?

The VDI is now calling for Germany to make itself more attractive to foreign engineers. The German government recently published a new draft law which aims to plug its skills gap by adapting its immigration laws. Amongst other things, the proposals aim to loosen the requirements for Blue Card applicants and to bring in a points-based job seekers visa. 

However, Westerkamp complains that some immigrants wait months for a visa appointment at the German embassy and that staff shortages at the foreigners’ offices lead to delays.

A recent study by the Bertelsmann Foundation’s Skilled Migration Monitor also found that managers increasingly complain about bureaucratic and legal hurdles as well as difficulties in the recognition of qualifications for foreign workers. 

Westerkamp said that Germans must understand that their standard of living can’t be maintained without more immigration and said that, people must “give foreigners the feeling that they are welcome in this country”. 

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