Abstract
Access to the Italian job market is undermined by several kinds of discrimination influencing the opportunities for individuals to obtain a job. In this study, we analyze together the impact of three of the most relevant kinds of discrimination operating in the Italian labor market: gender, race, and weight. Our aim is to assess whether gender and race either increase or decrease the impact of weight-based discrimination. In this respect, we submit a set of fictitious résumés including photos of either obese or thin applicants in response to real online job offers. Our results indicate that the strongest kind of discrimination operating in the Italian labor market is the one connected to the candidate’s geographical origin. Moreover, we find discrimination based on body weight to be more relevant within immigrants than within natives, and gender gap appears to be higher within the obese candidates’ group compared to the normal-weight candidates’ one. This last result is particularly relevant, as the growing rates of obesity forecasted for the next years could in turn produce an increase in the gender gap, which in Italy is already massive.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Agerström, J., Rooth, D.O.: The role of automatic obesity stereotypes in real hiring discrimination. J. Appl. Psychol. 96(4), 790–805 (2011)
Allasino, E., Reyneri, E., Venturini, A., Zincone, G.: Labour Market Discrimination against Migrant Workers in Italy. International Migration Papers, International Labour Organization (2004)
Allison, D.B., Fontaine, K.R., Manson, J.E., Stevens, J., VanItallie, T.B.: Annual deaths attributable to obesity in the United States. Jama. 282(16), 1530–1538 (1999)
Bellizzi, J.A., Klassen, M.L., Belonax, J.J.: Stereotypical beliefs about overweight and smoking and decision making in assignments to sales territories. Percept. Motor Skills. 69, 419–429 (1989)
Burkhauser, R.V., Cawley, J.: Beyond BMI: the value of more accurate measures of fatness and obesity in social science research. J. Health Econ. 27, 519–529 (2008)
Busetta, G., Campolo, M.G., Panarello, D.: Immigrants and Italian labor market: statistical or taste-based discrimination? Genus. 74(4), 1–20 (2018)
Busetta, G., Fiorillo, F., Palomba, G.: The impact of attractiveness on job opportunities in Italy: a gender field experiment. Economia Politica, (2020) https://doi.org/10.1007/s40888-020-00194-5
Caliendo, M., Gehrsitz, M.: Obesity and the labor market: a fresh look at the weight penalty. Econ. Hum. Biol. 23, 209–225 (2016)
Carr, D., Friedman, M.A.: Is obesity stigmatizing? Body weight, perceived discrimination, and psychological well-being in the United States. J. Health Soc. Behav. 46, 244–259 (2005)
Cawley, J.: The impact of obesity on wages. J. Hum. Resour. 39(2), 451–474 (2004)
Devaux, M., Sassi, F.: Social inequalities in obesity and overweight in 11 OECD countries. Eur. J. Pub. Health. 23(3), 464–469 (2011)
Devaux, M., Sassi, F.: The Labour Market Impacts of Obesity, Smoking, Alcohol Use and Related Chronic Diseases. OECD Health Working Papers, No. 86. OECD Publishing, Paris (2015)
Ding, V.J., Stillman, J.A.: An empirical investigation of discrimination against overweight female job applicants in New Zealand. New Zeal. J. Psychol. 34, 139–148 (2005)
Drydakis, N.: Sexual orientation discrimination in the labour market. Labour Econ. 16(4), 364–372 (2009)
Evans, W.: Eye-tracking online metacognition: cognitive complexity and recruiter decision making. http://www.bu.edu/com/files/2018/10/TheLadders-EyeTracking-StudyC2.pdf. Accessed 04 Dec 2018 (2012)
Fikkan, J., Rothblum, E.: Weight bias in employment. In: Brownell, K.D., Puhl, R.M., Schwartz, M.B., Rudd, L. (eds.) Weight Bias: Nature, Consequences, and Remedies, pp. 15–28. The Guilford Press, New York (2005)
Finucane, M. M., Stevens, G. A., Cowan, M. J., Danaei, G., Lin, J. K., Paciorek, C. J., ... , Farzadfar, F.: National, regional, and global trends in body-mass index since 1980: systematic analysis of health examination surveys and epidemiological studies with 960 country-years and 9· 1 million participants. The Lancet 377(9765), 557–567 (2011)
Flint, S.W., Čadek, M., Codreanu, S.C., Ivić, V., Zomer, C., Gomoiu, A.: Obesity discrimination in the recruitment process: “You’re not Hired!”. Front. Psychol. 7(647) (2016)
Gallus, S., Odone, A., Lugo, A., Bosetti, C., Colombo, P., Zuccaro, P., La Vecchia, C.: Overweight and obesity prevalence and determinants in Italy: an update to 2010. Eur. J. Nutr. 52(2), 677–685 (2013)
Galper, R.E., Weiss, E.: Attribution of behavioral intentions to obese and normal weight stimulus persons. Eur. J. Soc. Psychol. 5(4), 425–440 (1975)
Garcia, J., Quintana-Domeque, C.: Obesity, Employment and Wages in Europe. In: Bolin, K., Cawley J. (eds.) The Economics of Obesity (Advances in Health Economics and Health Services Research vol. 17), 187–217. Emerald Group Publishing Limited (2006)
Gleason, P., Suitor, C.: Food for Thought: Children's Diets in the 1990s. mathematica Policy Research, Princeton (2001)
Gordon, R.A., Arvey, R.D.: Age Bias in laboratory and field settings: a meta-analytic investigation. J. Appl. Soc. Psychol. 34(3), 468–492 (2004)
Hebl, M.R., Heatherton, T.F.: The stigma of obesity in women: the difference is black and white. Personal. Soc. Psychol. Bull. 24, 417–426 (1998)
Horner, K.: A growing problem: why the federal government needs to shoulder the burden in protecting workers from weight discrimination. Cathol. U. Law Rev. 54(2), 589–625 (2005)
Jaime, P.C., Lock, K.: Do school based food and nutrition policies improve diet and reduce obesity? Prev. Med. 48(1), 45–53 (2009)
Johansson, E., Böckerman, P., Kiiskinen, U., Heliövaara, M.: Obesity and labour market success in Finland: the difference between having a high BMI and being fat. Econ. Hum. Biol. 7, 36–45 (2009)
Jowell, R., Prescott-Clarke, P.: Racial discrimination and white-collar workers in Britain. Race. 11(4), 397–417 (1970)
Kaas, L., Manger, C.: Ethnic discrimination in Germany's labour market: a field experiment. Ger. Econ. Rev. 13(1), 1–20 (2012)
Lahey, J.N.: Age, women, and hiring: an experimental study. J. Hum. Resour. 43, 30–56 (2008)
Larkin, J.C., Pines, H.A.: No fat persons need apply: experimental studies of the overweight stereotype and hiring preference. Sociol. Work Occup. 6(3), 312–327 (1979)
Lundborg, P., Nystedt, P., Rooth, D.O.: No country for fat men? Obesity, earnings, skills, and health among 450,000 Swedish men. IZA Discussion Paper No. 4775 (2010)
Maranto, C.L., Stenoien, A.F.: Weight discrimination: a multidisciplinary analysis. Employ. Respons. Rights J. 12, 9–24 (2000)
Mason, K.: The unequal weight of discrimination: gender, body size, and income inequality. Soc. Probl. 59(3), 411–435 (2012)
McCormick, B., Stone, I.: Corporate analytical team: economic costs of obesity and the case for government intervention. Obes. Rev. 8, 161–164 (2007)
Menschik, D., Ahmed, S., Alexander, M.H., Blum, R.W.: Adolescent physical activities as predictors of young adult weight. Arch. Pediatr. Adolesc. Med. 162(1), 29–33 (2008)
Mokdad, A.H., Ford, E.S., Bowman, B.A., Dietz, W.H., Vinicor, F., Bales, V.S., Marks, J.S.: Prevalence of obesity, diabetes, and obesity-related health risk factors, 2001. Jama. 289(1), 76–79 (2003)
Nardone, P., Spinelli, A., Buoncristiano, M., Lauria, L., Pizzi, E., Andreozzi, S., Galeone, D.: Il Sistema di sorveglianza OKkio alla SALUTE: risultati 2014. Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Roma (2016)
O'Brien, K.S., Latner, J.D., Ebneter, D., Hunter, J.A.: Obesity discrimination: the role of physical appearance, personal ideology, and anti-fat prejudice. Int. J. Obes. 37(3), 455–460 (2013)
OECD: Health at a Glance: Europe 2010. OECD Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1787/health_glance-2010-en. Accessed 02 Oct 2017 (2010)
OECD: Health at a Glance: Europe 2016: State of Health in the EU Cycle. OECD Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264265592-en. Accessed 10 Oct 2017 (2016)
OECD: Obesity update 2017. http://www.oecd.org/health/health-systems/Obesity-Update-2017.pdf. Accessed 11 Nov 2017 (2017)
Paul, R.J., Townsend, J.B.: Shape up or ship out? Employment discrimination against the overweight. Employ. Respons. Rights J. 8(2), 133–145 (1995)
Pingitore, R., Dugoni, B.L., Tindale, R.S., Spring, B.: Bias against overweight job applicants in a simulated employment interview. J. Appl. Psychol. 79(6), 909–917 (1994)
Pronin, E.: How we see ourselves and how we see others. Science. 320(5880), 1177–1180 (2008)
Puhl, R., Brownell, K.D.: Bias, discrimination, and obesity. Obes. Res. 9(12), 788–805 (2001)
Puhl, R.M., Andreyeva, T., Brownell, K.D.: Perceptions of weight discrimination: prevalence and comparison to race and gender discrimination in America. Int. J. Obes. 32(6), 992–1000 (2008)
Roehling, M.V., Roehling, P.V., Pichler, S.: The relationship between body weight and perceived weight-related employment discrimination: the role of sex and race. J. Vocat. Behav. 71(2), 300–318 (2007)
Rooth, D.O.: Obesity, attractiveness, and differential treatment in hiring. A field experiment. J. Hum. Resour. 44(3), 710–735 (2009)
Rudolph, C.W., Wells, C.L., Weller, M.D., Baltes, B.B.: A meta-analysis of empirical studies of weight-based bias in the workplace. J. Vocat. Behav. 74(1), 1–10 (2009)
Solovay, S.: Tipping the Scales of Justice: Fighting Weight-Based Discrimination. Prometheus Books, Amherst (2000)
Theran, E.E.: Free to be arbitrary and capricious: weight-based discrimination and the logic of American antidiscrimination law. Cornell Journal of Law and Public Policy. 11, 113–165 (2001)
Vanhove, A., Gordon, R.A.: Weight discrimination in the workplace: a meta-analytic examination of the relationship between weight and work-related outcomes. J. Appl. Soc. Psychol. 44(1), 12–22 (2014)
Visscher, T.L., Seidell, J.C.: The public health impact of obesity. Annu. Rev. Public Health. 22(1), 355–375 (2001)
Wing, R.R., Phelan, S.: Long-term weight loss maintenance. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 82(1), 222S–225S (2005)
WHO: Global Database on Body Mass Index. World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland. https://www.who.int/bmi/index.jsp (2011)
WHO: Global status report on noncommunicable diseases 2014 - Attaining the nine global noncommunicable diseases targets; a shared responsibility. World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland (2014)
Wyatt, S.B., Winters, K.P., Dubbert, P.M.: Overweight and obesity: prevalence, consequences, and causes of a growing public health problem. Am J Med Sci. 331(4), 166–174 (2006)
Zablocki, E.: Weight and work. Business and Health. 16, 20–24 (1998)
Funding
Open access funding provided by Università degli Studi di Udine within the CRUI-CARE Agreement.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
About this article
Cite this article
Busetta, G., Campolo, M.G. & Panarello, D. Weight-Based Discrimination in the Italian Labor Market: an Analysis of the Interaction with Gender and Ethnicity. J Econ Inequal 18, 617–637 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10888-020-09456-5
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10888-020-09456-5