Anti-Defamation League (ADL) CEO Jonathan Greenblatt speaks during the organization’s “Never Is Now” summit at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in Manhattan in New York City, US, Nov. 10, 2022. Photo: REUTERS/Jeenah Moon

Jewish and Israeli Americans are facing “substantial discrimination” in the US job market, being filtered out of hiring pools by recruiters who identify their heritage through their last names and resumes, a groundbreaking new study commissioned by the Anti-Defamation League’s (ADL) Center for Antisemitism Research has found.

Conducted by California State University Channel Islands economics professor Dr. Bryan Tomlin, the study, titled “Jewish and Israeli Americans Face Discrimination in the Job Market,” found that job seekers with names that “sound” Jewish and resumes that “signal” a likely Jewish background needed to send 24.2 percent more inquiries to potential employers to gain an equal number of positive responses as non-Jews. For Israelis, the number was higher, with 39 percent more inquiries required for receiving equal responses.

“Without the benefit of a study of this kind, it is difficult, if not impossible, to prove adverse treatment in the labor market based on one’s religion or cultural identity,” Tomlin said in a press release. “This study shows that Jewish and Israeli Americans may be missing out on job opportunities just because of their identity, not their qualifications, and it provides a start toward quantifying some of these more subtle but still harmful symptoms of antisemitism.”

Tomlin amassed his data by sending 3,000 “email inquiries” to companies across the US which posted job listings on Craigslist.org between May 2024 and October 2024. He wrote as a “Kristen Miller” — a traditional Western European name which functioned as the control— or Rebecca Cohen and Lia Avraham, signaling Jewish and Israeli origin, respectively, or what Tomlin described as “the Jewish and Israeli treatments.” Each applicant was given similar qualifications and other indicators of merit, including a bachelors degree in literature, fluency in foreign languages, and relevant job experiences.

However, their job experiences and academic concentrations differed. For example, the Western European control, “Kristen,” reported emphasizing English literature in her undergraduate studies, while the latter two reported studying Jewish and Israeli literature. Additionally, Kristen listed a “Martinelli’s Italian Diner and Deli” as a “previous restaurant experience,” while Rebecca and Lia listed an “Eli’s Jewish Diner and Deli” and “Zev’s Israeli Diner and Deli.” Similar cultural markers were included in other categories.

The results were striking. The Israeli and Jewish treatments “experienced a decrease in positive response rates relative to the control,” resulting in the study’s main finding that “to receive the same number of positive responses as the Western European Treatment, the Jewish Treatment must send 24.2 percent more inquiries, and the Israeli Treatment must send 39.0 percent more inquiries.”

It continued, “The results of this analysis suggest that antisemitism is not limited to the readily identifiable verbal/physical space as identified by the ADL and the FBI, but also exists within the labor market, as well. However, because this study focused on the market for administrators, the extent to which these results can be applied to other markets is not known, and it would be helpful if future research were to test for antisemitism in other industries as well. Moreover, given the results of this study, further investigation of potential adverse treatment of these protected groups in other markets (non-labor) is warranted as well.”

“This is groundbreaking evidence of serious antisemitic discrimination in the labor market,” Greenblatt said in a statement. “On top of increasing antisemitic incidents and growing antisemitic beliefs, this landmark study illustrates the very real need for employers to take anti-Jewish and anti-Israeli prejudice more seriously to have a workplace that works for everyone.”

Founded in 1913, the Anti-Defamation League is among world’s best known Jewish civil rights organizations.

In October, the ADL issued a report describing the punishing wave of over 10,000 antisemitic incidents that hit the American Jewish community in the year following Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel. Having tracked antisemitic incidents that occurred over the next 12 months, the report showed a 200 percent increase from the previous year, noting that 30 percent of them took place on college campuses and another 12 percent happened during anti-Israel protests. Another 20 percent targeted Jewish institutions, including nonprofit organizations and houses of worship. Of these, 50 percent were bomb threats.

The last quarter of the year proved most injurious, the ADL noted, explaining that after Hamas’s Oct. 7 onslaught, 5,204 antisemitic incidents rocked the Jewish community. Across the political spectrum, from white supremacists on the far right to ostensibly left-wing Ivy League universities, antisemites emerged to express solidarity with the Hamas terror group, spread antisemitic tropes and blood libels, and openly call for a genocide of the Jewish people in Israel.

Such incidents occurred throughout the US. In California, an elderly Jewish man was killed when an anti-Zionist professor employed by a local community college allegedly pushed him during an argument. At Cornell University in upstate New York, a student threatened to rape and kill Jewish female students and “shoot up” the campus’ Hillel center. In a suburb outside Cleveland, Ohio, a group of vandals desecrated graves at a Jewish cemetery. At Harvard University, America’s oldest and, arguably, most prestigious university, a faculty group shared an antisemitic cartoon depicting a left-hand tattooed with a Star of David dangling two men of color from a noose.

Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.

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