When the Star's a Sign: How Workers Respond to Politically-Charged Job Ads

When the Star's a Sign: How Workers Respond to Politically-Charged Job Ads

Jason Sockin (Cornell University)

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ABSTRACT:

While nouns in the German language are gendered toward males, the introduction of the "gender star" has allowed for nouns to be interpreted as not assigning gender, or non-binary. Their usage however has become highly politically polarizing. Using over 40 million online job postings from 2016 to 2024, we document the rising prevalence of the gender star in the German labor market, particularly in German counties with greater support for the Green party. We then study how job seekers respond when the advertised job title includes such non-binary punctuation. Job seekers apply more often to job ads with gender-inclusive large, particularly in counties, occupations and sectors where gender-inclusive language is scarcer, suggesting a higher value for this amenity in such contexts. Finally, using a survey experiment, we investigate how such politically-charged signals in job ads affect labor market sorting and polarization. 

BIO:

Jason Sockin is an Assistant Professor in the ILR School at Cornell University whose research centers on better understanding how the Internet and technology have fundamentally altered the ways in which workers and firms interact in today's labor market. Jason has worked as a researcher at the IZA - Institute of Labor Economics, U.S. Treasury, Penn Wharton Budget Model, Glassdoor, The Congressional Budget Office, The White House’s Council of Economic Advisers under the Obama Administration, and The Federal Reserve Board of Governors.