Employment: discrimination in hiring has almost doubled in 20 years

The figures are not encouraging.

Despite the increase in awareness-raising actions in recent years, the proportion of employees claiming to have been discriminated against in hiring has almost doubled in twenty years.

This is the finding that emerges from a vast Ifop survey conducted among 4,000 employees for the job search site MeteoJob.

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In 2001, 12% of employees surveyed by Ifop said they had been victims of discrimination in the context of their job search.

This year, it's almost twice as much: 21%.

The fact of being a woman rather than a man, of belonging to an underprivileged social background, all this plays a role.

But what is most often put forward by employees is the fact of having a foreign nationality, of not having white skin or of belonging to a religious minority. 

A sharply increasing sexism

It is especially at the time of the job interview that discrimination is perceived, with derogatory remarks linked to origins or religious beliefs, when it is not mockery of the first or last name.

Sexism is also often at work: 19% of women say they have been subjected to inappropriate comments during the interview. This figure was almost three times lower twenty years ago (7%). Finally, privacy is frequently invoked: one in four women was asked if she expected to have a child soon, or how she was providing care for her children. Questions again much less asked twenty years ago.