December 2013

IZA DP No. 7845: Labour Market Discrimination against Former Juvenile Delinquents: Evidence from a Field Experiment

revised version published in: Applied Economics, 2015, 47 (11), 1061 - 1072

We identify hiring discrimination against former juvenile delinquents in a direct way. To this end we conduct a field experiment in the Belgian labour market. We find that labour market discrimination is indeed a major barrier in the transition to work for former juvenile delinquents. Labour market entrants disclosing a history of juvenile delinquency get about 22 percent less callback compared to their counterparts without a criminal record. This discrimination is more outspoken among the low-educated.