It covers a wide range of occupations: software engineers, shopkeepers, teachers and all the manifestations of economic complexity.
We included five female-dominated occupations (accounting clerk, enrolled nurse, preschool teacher, cleaner, and restaurant worker) and four male-dominated occupations (software developer, salesperson, truck driver, and auto mechanic).
The resume audit study involved (1) submitting hundreds of fictitious resumes online in response to postings for skilled occupations (software developer and programmer, accountant, and engineer) by two kinds of employers (foreign and local) in the Myanmar labor market and (2) measuring callbacks for each resume submitted.
In fact, Washington State is one of only 4 states where the most common job occupation is "software developer" (the others are Virginia, Colorado, and Utah).
A recent analysis of LinkedIn data by a Boston startup found that of UW graduates in the past two years who list their occupation as "software engineer," 90% reside in Seattle!
Only the occupations of software developer and programmer, accountant, and engineer are chosen for this study because they represent growing occupations as Myanmar has been trying to move from an agriculture-based economy toward a service-, mandfacturing-, and production-based economy.
To assess if callback rates are different across employer subgroups (foreign, local) and occupation subgroups (accountant, software developer, engineer), I restrict the sample according to the subpopulation of interest and report results for each subpopulation group separately.
Before investigating heterogeneity across three occupation groups—(1) software developer or programmer, (2) accountant, and (3) engineer it may be helpful to explain first why we might expect heterogeneous effects by occupation, given the unique setting and context of this study.
How many of our occupations will our software overlords steal away from us?
Many are well-paying occupations such as software engineering, advanced manufacturing, or medical technicians that support growth industries.
