Ethnic and gender differences in the labour market perceptions of post-higher education job seekers: 'Double jeopardy' or 'ethnic prominence'?

• Published in: Journal of occupational and organizational psychology Vol. 85; no. 2; pp. 353 - 369
• Main Authors: Taylor, Susan D., Charlton, John P., Ranyard, Rob
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01-06-2012; British Psychological Society
• Subjects: Additives; Applicants; Bangladesh; Bangladeshi people; Biological and medical sciences; Cultural differences; Double jeopardy; Employment; Ethnicity; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Gender differences; Gender differentiation; Graduates; Higher education; Hypotheses; India; Job evaluation; Job hunting; Job searching; Job seekers; Labor market; Labour market; Occupational psychology; Pakistan; Perceptions; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Studies; Unemployment; United Kingdom; United Kingdom; Europe; United Kingdom > UK; Human; Social perception; Education level; Social group; Labour market; Sex; Stereotype; Gender; Social belonging; Ethnic group; Job search; Sociodemographic factor; Job seeker; Social identity
• ISSN: 0963-1798; 2044-8325
• DOI: 10.1111/j.2044-8325.2011.02041.x

Ethnic and gender differences in perceptions of graduate job acquisition difficulty among U.K. post‐higher education job seekers were investigated. Two main hypotheses were compared: the double jeopardy hypothesis (DJH), suggesting an additive or interactive increase in perceived difficulty associated with membership of different disadvantaged demographic categories; and the ethnic prominence hypothesis, arguing for the salience of ethnicity over gender in perceptions. Graduates and final year students (N= 800) from Black, Indian, Pakistani/Bangladeshi, and White ethnic backgrounds rated the level of difficulty that a suitably qualified man and woman from their own ethnic background would encounter in attaining 10 graduate jobs. Interactions between participant ethnic background and gender of job seeker rated were examined in the context of the competing hypotheses. The perceptions of men, and Indian and Pakistani/Bangladeshi women, were consistent with the additive DJH, whereas Black women's perceptions were not. It is concluded that: (1) the perceptions of the latter group may reflect knowledge of Black male disadvantage, or negative stereotyping with respect to employment in the U.K. graduate labour market; and (2) perceptions of double jeopardy by some female graduates may have negative effects on their job seeking endeavours.