Inefficiencies and bias in first job placement: the case of professional Asian nationals in the United States

We study whether the quality of the first job is lower for professional Asian nationals than for non-Asian nationals in the USA. With over a million professionals from Asia entering the US labor market in the past decade, a potential under placement may be both inefficient and discriminatory. We collected data on all newly hired assistant professors of management in research-intensive (R1) universities in the USA between 2010 and 2021. We focus on the quality of the university into which first hires are placed and examine whether first-job placement quality is lower for individuals who were born in East, South and Southeast Asia. We find that the quality and quantity of publication record are positively related to the quality of the placement and that Asian nationals have higher performance. However, Asian nationals are placed at lower-quality universities relative to their peers. Further, Asian nationals require a strong performance signal, in the form of first or second authorship on a publication to narrow the placement gap. Our results are explained by a combination of direct bias against applicants of Asian nationality and a requirement of a higher performance “burden of proof” from these applicants, compared to peers who are non-Asian nationals.