Labour market discrimination against Moroccan minorities in the Netherlands and Spain: a cross-national and cross-regional comparison

This paper examines discrimination against job candidates of Moroccan origin in Spain and the Netherlands. By drawing on insights from group threat theory, we specifically examine how latent ethnic conflicts regarding economic goods or cultural values at the regional level affect discrimination rates of Moroccan minorities in both countries. To this aim, we make use of a cross-nationally standardised field experiment with fictitious candidates applying for real job vacancies in Spain and the Netherlands (n = 3681). We find higher levels of discrimination against job applicants of Moroccan origin in the Netherlands. Whereas job candidates of Moroccan origin are six percentage points less likely to receive a positive response from an employer in Spain, the predicted ethnic gap in call-back rates is fourteen percentage points in the Netherlands. Furthermore, while regional differences in discrimination are not related to regional unemployment figures, we do find some evidence that in the Netherlands a larger share of Moroccans in the region exacerbates discrimination against Moroccan minorities. Altogether, the findings point to the need to give greater weight to the impact of widespread negative beliefs about ethnic minorities and how these beliefs can have a profound adverse impact on the integration of disadvantaged ethnic groups within the labour market.