When you send in a résumé and never hear back, you may never know why. Even if you get an offer, you might not know what someone with similar experience was offered. This post examines research involving Black, Asian, and Hispanic or Latino workers in the United States. Comparing applications and pay decisions can reveal patterns that one applicant or employee would find hard to see.
Who Gets Called Back?
In a study published in 2022, researchers sent more than 83,000 fictional applications to 108 large U.S. employers. On average, applications with names associated with Black Americans received about two fewer responses per 100 applications than those with names associated with white Americans. The size of the gap varied across employers.
A separate study published in 2016 sent fictional résumés for Black and Asian applicants to entry-level job openings. Applicants received more callbacks when researchers made details suggesting their race less apparent, such as by changing a name or how a group affiliation was listed. The qualifications stayed the same. A callback gives an applicant a chance to discuss their skills in an interview, so unequal treatment at this stage can affect who gets considered for a position.
What the Weekly Earnings Figures Show
For 2025, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported median weekly earnings of $1,231 for white workers, $986 for Black or African American workers, $1,566 for Asian workers, and $951 for Hispanic or Latino workers. These figures cover full-time wage and salary workers. The median is the middle of the earnings distribution. The estimates exclude October, and people counted as Hispanic or Latino can be of any race.
These figures include people in different jobs and at different levels of experience. They show differences in weekly earnings across groups, but they cannot tell us whether two people doing comparable work are paid differently or how much discrimination contributes to the gaps. The higher median for Asian workers describes people already working full time. The table does not measure who was screened out during hiring.
Starting Pay and Raises
Getting an interview is one step toward employment. Starting pay and raises shape what workers earn once they are hired. In a study published in 2019, participants took part in mock salary negotiations. Evaluators with stronger racial biases tended to see Black candidates as negotiating more than white candidates, even though they negotiated about the same amount. For Black candidates in the study, being seen as negotiating more was linked to lower starting salaries.
Pay differences can also appear after someone starts working. In a study published in 2015, researcher Emilio Castilla analyzed pay decisions at one company. The analysis found smaller performance-based raises for ethnic minority employees compared with U.S.-born white men after accounting for their jobs, performance ratings, and other relevant characteristics. The gap narrowed after the company required managers to explain their decisions and appointed a committee to review them.
Changing How We Think About Fair Hiring
In Changing Minds, Howard Gardner describes research and resonance as two ways people can reconsider a belief. Research gives us evidence to test an assumption. A story can resonate by helping us understand why that evidence matters in someone’s life. Applying these ideas to hiring means examining the assumption that similar qualifications always lead to similar opportunities.
The résumé experiments provide evidence to test that assumption. One Black student interviewed for the 2016 study said she weighed whether to list her involvement in a Black student organization based on how welcoming the employer seemed. Her experience shows how the possibility of bias can shape what someone decides to share before sending an application. Listening to experiences like hers gives readers context for the research findings.
What Can Employers Do?
Employers can decide which skills matter before reviewing résumés and use the same criteria for every applicant. During interviews, they can ask candidates the same questions about the job and score their answers using the same guide. This gives interviewers a clearer basis for comparing candidates.
For pay, employers can post a range and explain what determines where someone starts within it. They can also review what people earn for comparable work and check whether starting pay and raises follow consistent standards. Oregon workers who have questions about their pay can find information and reporting options through the state’s Bureau of Labor and Industries.
When you receive a job offer, ask how the starting rate was determined and what the requirements are for future raises. Those questions can help you understand how the employer makes pay decisions.
Read More About This Topic
MIT Blueprint Labs: Systemic Discrimination Among Large U.S. Employers — How researchers tested whether names affected employer responses.
Harvard Business School: Research on Résumé Screening — Why some job seekers change details on their résumés.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: Median Weekly Earnings — National earnings figures by race and ethnicity.
Journal of Applied Psychology: Bargaining While Black — How bias can affect salary negotiations.
Organization Science: Accounting for the Gap — What happened when one company reviewed how managers awarded raises.
Harvard: Changing Minds — Gardner’s ideas about how people reconsider beliefs.
U.S. Office of Personnel Management: Structured Interviews — How to compare candidates using consistent questions and scores.
Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries: Equal Pay — Equal pay information and reporting options for Oregon workers.
