Labor and Employment

Jobs are a critical gateway to economic opportunity.

We work to ensure that technologies promote equity across the employment lifecycle, and that employers are held accountable for their use. We have written research reports on predictive hiring technologies and equity, scrutinized the digital hiring practices of large hourly employers, and testified in front of regulators and legislators across the country. We continue to support modernized civil rights laws and regulations across the country, and support the use of hiring tools that mitigate bias and discrimination.

Featured

Essential Work

Aaron Rieke, Urmila Janardan, Mingwei Hsu, and Natasha Duarte

In this report, we investigate how large hourly employers are using technology to hire for low-wage hourly jobs. We scrutinize 15 online application processes, raise concerns with selection procedures like personality tests, and offer recommendations for employers and policymakers.

Latest work in this issue area

All work in this issue area

Comments on EEOC's Draft Strategic Enforcement Plan

We submitted comments to the EEOC’s Draft Strategic Enforcement Plan for 2023-2027, pushing for more proactive support of civil rights in recruiting and hiring.

Mitra Ebadolahi, Natasha Duarte, and Urmila Janardan

Proposals for the Biden Administration to Address Technology’s Role in Hiring Discrimination

We sent a memo on technology’s role in hiring discrimination to agency leaders within the Biden administration.

Harlan Yu, Aaron Rieke, and Natasha Duarte

Help Wanted

Without active measures to mitigate them, bias will arise in predictive hiring tools by default. This report describes popular tools that many employers currently use, explores how these tools affect equity throughout the entire hiring process, and offers reflections and recommendations on where we go from here.

Aaron Rieke and Miranda Bogen

All the Ways Hiring Algorithms Can Introduce Bias

In the Harvard Business Review, Miranda explains what we mean when we talk about “hiring algorithms” and why predictive hiring technology is far more likely to erode equity than it is to promote it.

Miranda Bogen

Selected press and events

Bloomberg Law Disability Bias Should Be Addressed in AI Rules

Urmila Janardan was quoted in Bloomberg Law: “The farther a job evaluation strays from the essential functions of the job, the more likely it is to discriminate by disability.”

Vox/Recode Artificial intelligence will help determine if you get your next job

Aaron Rieke speaks to Recode about how AI hiring systems can be ineffective and even discriminatory.

CNN Business There's a new obstacle to landing a job after college: Getting approved by AI

I’m really skeptical that there’s real validity there, said Aaron Rieke.

American Banker Can AI eliminate bias in banks' hiring decisions?

“Technology can’t do that hard work for you,” Rieke said. “AI is not a panacea or a solution to bias.”