Group applied to jobs using Jewish names, prior employers — what they found was troubling

Job applicants with Jewish names or Jewish-linked prior employers were less likely to get responses for administrative assistant gigs, a troubling new study by the Anti-Defamation League Wednesday claims.

The ADL conducted a field experiment that sent out 3,000 applications for administrative assistant job postings via Craigslist.org between May and October of this year in 23 cities across the country.

The positive response rate was 3.4% lower for Jewish Americans and 4.9% lower for Israeli-Americans compared to other backgrounds such as those with Italian or Irish heritage, according to the report.

“This is groundbreaking evidence of serious antisemitic discrimination in the labor market,” said ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt.

“On top of increasing antisemitic incidents and growing antisemitic beliefs, this landmark study illustrates the very real need for employers to take anti-Jewish and anti-Israeli prejudice more seriously to have a workplace that works for everyone.”

Craisglist is one of the few online boards where person-to-person email is the primary form of communication as opposed to an online job application process.

The applications and resumes submitted identified some candidates as Jewish via their names or their prior work histories or associations — such as working for a Jewish deli or Jewish or Israeli athletic or cultural groups.

Based on the lower response rate, Jewish Americans needed to send 24% more applications to receive the same number of positive first responses from prospective employers as other Americans, the report found.

Israeli Americans needed to send out 39% more applications.

The study was undertaken because such religious discrimination is more subtle and harder to prove than blatant street antisemitism, said Bryan Tomlin, an economics professor at the California State University Channel Islands.

But sometimes it comes out in the open. A UCLA official has been accused of putting Jewish applicants on a “no hire” list, and after complaining that “lots of zionists” were seeking jobs.

In October, the ADL reported there were more than 10,000 antisemitic incidents that unfolded across the U.S. over the prior year and — a 200% increase over the prior period and the most it ever recorded.

Much of the hatred raged on college campuses following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel and amid continuing war in Gaza, the data showed.

Employment discrimination based on religion is against the law.

“Without the benefit of a study of this kind, it is difficult, if not impossible, to prove adverse treatment in the labor market based on one’s religion or cultural identity,” Tomlin said.

“This study shows that Jewish and Israeli Americans may be missing out on job opportunities just because of their identity, not their qualifications, and it provides a start toward quantifying some of these more subtle but still harmful symptoms of antisemitism.”

The applications were sent to employers based in Atlanta, Austin, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, District of Columbia, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, New York City, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Portland, Raleigh, San Antonio, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle and Trenton.

Israeli applications were treated the worst in Seattle — 16.3% less likely to receive a positive response from an employer compared to others — 23.1% vs 6.8%, the report said.