Exploring Disability Disadvantage in Hiring: A Factorial Survey among Norwegian Employers

Abstract

The role of disability in producing disadvantage in employers’ hiring assessments was explored in a factorial survey, where a random sample of Norwegian employers ( n = 1341) evaluated fictional job-seeker profiles. The results revealed that including an impairment description in a job-seeker profile significantly decreased the likelihood that employers would want to hire a candidate. The degree of disadvantage varied with the type of impairment. Being eligible for a wage subsidy scheme improved employers’ assessments of candidates while including information about other types of support measures did not. Furthermore, when an impairment description was introduced into a job-seeker profile, other crucial characteristics of the job seeker lost some or all of their impact on employers’ assessment scores. These findings are interpreted as disability becoming a ‘master status’ when employers make hiring assessments.