Resumes with Muslim names get fewer callbacks than same-qualified white applicants

Evidence

A 2004 study performed by the California-based Discrimination Research Center revealed the impact of first and last names on hiring in the Golden State. They sent out six thousand fictitious résumés to employment firms throughout California, with each candidate similarly qualified, but the names—“test-marketed” beforehand—could be identified as white, Latino, African-American, Asian-American, Arab-American, or South Asian. “Heidi McKenzie” garnered the highest response, at 36.7 percent. The lowest, at 23 percent, was the identifiably Muslim name, Abdul-Aziz Mansour. — Moustafa Bayoumi, How Does It Feel to Be a Problem? Being…, 709

Categorization

• XREF: Directly parallels the Bertrand-Mullainathan ‘Emily vs. Lakisha’ resume audit study of racial discrimination in Boston and Chicago hiring.
• SEED: The concrete Heidi McKenzie vs. Abdul-Aziz Mansour contrast is a stark, quotable statistic for an essay on name-based discrimination.