We conducted several large-scale field experiments to measure labor market discrimination across
different minority groups in Australia – a country where one quarter of the population was born
overseas. To denote ethnicity, we used distinctively Anglo-Saxon, Indigenous, Italian, Chinese, and
Middle Eastern names, and our goal was a comparison across multiple ethnic groups rather than
focusing on a single minority as in most other studies. Our main experiment, an audit discrimination
study, involved sending over 4000 fictional resumes to employers in response to job advertisements. In
all cases, we applied for entry-level jobs and submitted a CV showing that the candidate had attended
high school in Australia. We found economically and statistically significant differences in callback
rates, suggesting that ethnic minority candidates would need to apply for more jobs in order to receive
the same number of interviews. These differences vary systematically across groups, with Italians (a
more established migrant group) suffering less discrimination than Chinese and Middle Easterners
(who have typically arrived more recently). We also conducted two additional experiments to form a
more nuanced picture of prejudice. These were a ‘Return to Sender’ experiment and an Implicit
Association Test. The results from both experiments reveal societal prejudice against minority groups,
although the ranking sometimes differs from that in the audit discrimination study.