Working Paper
The Unintended Consequences of Employer Credit Check Bans for Labor Markets
Abstract: Over the last decade, 11 states have restricted employers? access to the credit reports of job applicants. We document a significant decline in county-level vacancies after these laws were enacted: Job postings fall by 5.5 percent in affected occupations relative to exempt occupations in the same county and the same occupation nationwide. Cross-sectional heterogeneity in the estimated effects suggests that employers use credit reports as signals: Vacancies fall more in counties with a large share of subprime residents, while they fall less in occupations with other commonly available signals.
Keywords: vacancies; credit scores; credit check;
JEL Classification: J08; J23; J63; J78;
https://doi.org/10.26509/frbc-wp-201905
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https://doi.org/10.26509/frbc-wp-201905
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Bibliographic Information
Provider: Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland
Part of Series: Working Papers
Publication Date: 2019-02-25
Number: 19-05