Black-sounding names on résumés require fifty percent more applications than white-sounding ones

Evidence

In a 2004 study, researchers crafted résumés with a white-sounding name and a black-sounding name, and sent them out in response to employment ads. Job applicants with white-sounding names needed to send out about ten résumés to get an invitation to interview, while job applicants with black-sounding names needed to send about fifteen résumés (50 percent more); the resulting paper was called “Are Emily and Greg More Employable Than Lakisha and Jamal?” — Dorothy A. Brown, The Whiteness of Wealth, 375

Categorization

• XREF: Directly parallels the implicit-bias audit studies in the wealth gap literature; connects to audit methodology on labor market discrimination beyond just tax policy.
• CANDY: The Emily/Greg vs Lakisha/Jamal finding is a crisp, conversation-ready statistic—ten vs fifteen résumés, 50 percent more.