Unemployed Americans Face Discrimination

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/04/110401121446.htm

ScienceDaily (Apr. 2, 2011) — When the unemployed complain of fighting an uphill battle to reenter the job market, believe them.

Through a series of simple experiments, researchers from UCLA and the State University of New York-Stony Brook found that out-of-work Americans face discrimination that is unrelated to their skills sets or to the conditions of departure from their previous jobs.

"We were surprised to find that, all things being equal, unemployed applicants were viewed as less competent, warm and hireable than employed individuals," said lead researcher Geoffrey Ho, a doctoral student in human resources and organizational behavior at the UCLA Anderson School of Management. "We were also surprised to see how little the terms of departure mattered. Job candidates who said they voluntarily left a position faced the same stigma as job candidates who said they had been laid off or terminated."

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