Project description
Fairer jobs for Europe
Women and immigrants across Europe still face persistent barriers in hiring and pay that limit both fairness and the efficient use of talent. Supported by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, FAIRWORK examines why these inequalities persist in European labour markets. It will focus on ethnic discrimination in recruitment and gender differences in job search linked to work-life balance. Working with a major online job-matching platform in the hospitality sector, the project will analyse recruitment data, run surveys, and carry out large-scale experiments to test whether tools such as algorithmic shortlisting and clearer information about job conditions can reduce bias and improve job matching. FAIRWORK aims to develop practical ways to make labour markets fairer.
Objective
Persistent disparities in hiring and wages remain a defining feature of European labor markets, particularly for women and immigrants. These gaps reduce equity and undermine efficiency by causing a misallocation of talent. FAIRWORK investigates two key drivers of inequality and tests scalable interventions to address them: (1) ethnic discrimination at different stages of recruitment and (2) gender differences in job search linked to women’s preferences for jobs providing higher work-life balance. The project pursues three objectives: (i) identifying the determinants of ethnic discrimination at each recruitment stage, (ii) evaluating the role of information frictions in shaping women’s job search behavior, and (iii) testing whether algorithmic screening and work–life balance information can promote both fairness and efficiency in job matching.
To achieve these goals, FAIRWORK leverages a unique collaboration with a major online job-matching platform in the hospitality sector, providing access to rich administrative data covering the full recruitment pipeline, from applications to shortlisting, interviews, and final hires. The project combines quasi-experimental methods, surveys, and large-scale randomized controlled trials (RCTs). In WP1, it will test whether algorithmic shortlisting reduces ethnic bias compared to human evaluators under cognitive load, delivering the first causal field evidence on the potential of algorithmic tools to equalize opportunities for disadvantaged workers. In WP2, it will exploit the introduction of work-life balance indicators on job ads and implement an RCT to test whether providing women with information on job amenities increases job finding, retention, and affects gender wage inequality.
FAIRWORK's findings will be directly relevant to researchers, policymakers, and European institutions, offering actionable insights into how low-cost, scalable solutions can foster fairer and more efficient labor markets in Europe.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
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CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
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Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
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Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
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Call for proposal
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(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2025-PF
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5037 AB Tilburg
Netherlands
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