The Determinants of Internship Opportunities: Evidence from a Résumé Audit

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We report the results of a résumé audit of the market for interns. We find that the probability of receiving a positive employer response is 58% lower when the internship is paid versus unpaid. Candidates with black-sounding names are 27% less likely to receive positive responses. These differences are driven by heterogeneity in the characteristics of the internships, which we uncover by classifying the job advertisements according to occupational descriptions from O*Net and analyzing the text of employer responses. We find that the lower response rate for paid internships is entirely explained by the higher expected wages in the occupations associated with paid internships. We find that blackwhite differences in positive responses depend on the distance of an internship opening from an applicant’s current address. Candidates with black-sounding names are more likely to receive an inquiry from the about the applicant’s current location.

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Research Associate
Mathias Dolls
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