1. In Washington-area tests conducted by the Fair Employment Council, jobs advertised in the major metropolitan newspaper (The Washington Post) were associated with rates of discrimination between 14.7 and 19.7 percent, which were lower than the rate for jobs listed in suburban newspapers (22.3 percent) or “walk-in” applications where there was no newspaper advertising (34.3 percent).
2. For example, in the Fair Employment Council's tests with African Americans, where both applicants received a job offer, the average starting wage offered to whites was $5.45 per hour; in jobs where white applicants received an offer but their African American partner did not, the starting wage averaged $7.13 per hour. While the effects of discrimination are serious for any worker, they are perhaps most destructive for job seekers just entering the world of work; being denied access to the bottom rung of “career ladders” can trap persons in a lifetime of dead end, low-paying, unstable employment. Unfortunately, our testing results demonstrate that discrimination is particularly common for such career-oriented opportunities.
3. An example of a positive comment is: “You are just what we are looking for.” An example of a negative ones is: “This really is a dead end job; you wouldn't want it anyway.”
4. U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (1977)