Dear All,

The Department of Economics invites you to their weekly seminar on Wednesday, November 1st, 2023.

Time: 1:40 PM to 2:50 PM

Venue: Zoom (Click HERE to join)

Speaker: Naila Shofia

Title: “Wearing your religion: Evidence on employers’ preferences in Indonesia”

Abstract: In collaboration with one of the largest job portals in Indonesia, we examine the effect of displaying gendered religious identity — headscarves for women and beards for men — on labor market outcomes. Applying a modified version of the incentivized resume rating method in a field experiment involving more than 1,200 employers, we find that displaying religious identity reduces the overall rating, the probability of being interviewed, as well as the amount of salary offered to candidates. The penalties of headscarf and beard are very similar in magnitude in most labor market outcomes, except for the salary offer. In a separate beliefs-elicitation experiment, we find that candidates wearing religious attributes are indeed perceived to be more religious, but they are also ranked lower by employers in a number of quality and personality traits important in the workplace.

We look forward to having you with us.