Does university prestige lead to discrimination in the labor market? Evidence from a labor market field experiment in three countries

Do employers prioritize university prestige above an applicant’s skills in the hiring process? To distinguish between effect of human capital process from name graduating university—while controlling for networking effects—2,400 fictitious applications were submitted to IT and accounting jobs US, UK, Australia. The resumes belonged citizens, both female male. For each sector labor market, two designed. One resume had a high match with generic requirements entry level sector. A second low same requirements. country, one high-ranked non-high-ranked selected signal prestige. sex applicant randomly assigned on otherwise identical resumes. High 79 percent more likely receive callback than applications. University not statistically significant predictors callbacks. These findings suggest that capital, prestige, predicts outcomes skill intensive sectors market entry-level applicants bachelor’s degree.