This article encapsulates the findings of a randomized correspondence test field experiment investigating whether job candidates home status influences their employability. More than 2000 employers with vacancies in the Swedish labour market received a job application from a fictitious candidate. A job candidates home status (his or her own place to live or temporary housing with a friend) was randomized across employers. Results show that home status indeed affected the number of positive employer responses received by job candidates, mainly in low-skilled occupations. Not having a place to live at the time of the application proved a disadvantage when applying for positions within but an advantage when applying for positions outside the city of residence at the time of the application.

Do employers discriminate against victims? We address this question and present the findings of a field experiment on hiring discrimination against victims. Matched pairs of written job applications for fictitious victims and nonvictims were sent to 1,117 employers in various labor market sectors. The probability of receiving a job interview invite or a job offer from employers was then estimated. Differences in this probability between the victim and nonvictim applicants were interpreted as discrimination. Results show that victims had a significantly lower probability of receiving a job interview invite or a job offer from employers than nonvictims. The extent of discrimination varied with applicants sex and occupational characteristics.

This paper presents the findings of a field experiment on hiring discrimination against ex-offenders in the Swedish labor market. Matched pairs of written job applications for fictitious male and female applicants with and without a past conviction of assault were sent to employers for nine different occupations. Results show that discrimination against ex-offenders exists, but the extent of it varies across occupations. The past conviction of assault was associated with 7–18 percentage point lower probability of receiving a positive employer response. Discrimination against ex-offenders was pronounced in female-dominated and high-skilled occupations. The magnitude of discrimination against ex-offenders did not vary by applicants’ sex.

The objective of this thesis is to improve the understanding of how several individual characteristics, namely education (years of schooling), health indicators (height, weight, smoking, alcohol consumption, and exercise), criminal behavior, and crime victimization, influence labor market outcomes in the short and long run. The first part of the thesis consists of three studies in which I adopt a within-twin-pair difference approach to analyze how education, health indicators, and earnings are associated with each other over the life cycle. The second part of the thesis includes two studies in which I use field experiments in order to test the employability of exoffenders and crime victims.

The first essay, Learning for life?, describes an analysis of the education premium in earnings and health-related behaviors throughout adulthood among twins. The results show that the education premium in earnings, net of genetic inheritance, is rather small over the life cycle but increases with the level of education. The results also show that the education premium in health-related behaviors is mainly concentrated on smoking habits. The influences of education on earnings and health-related behaviors seem to work independently of each other, and there are no signs that health-related behaviors influence the education premium in earnings or vice versa.

The second essay, Blowing up money?, details an analysis of the association between smoking and earnings in two different historical social contexts in Sweden: the 1970s and the 2000s. I also consider possible differences in this association in the short and long run as well as between the sexes. The results show that the earnings penalty for smoking is much stronger in the 2000s as compared to the 1970s (for both sexes) and that it is larger in the long run as compared to the short run (for men).

The third essay, Two by two, inch by inch, describes an analysis of the height premium among Swedish twins. The results show that the height premium is relatively constant over the life cycle and that it is larger below median height for men and above median height for young women. The estimates are similar for monozygotic and dizygotic twins, indicating that environmentally and genetically induced height differences are similarly associated with earnings over the life cycle.

The fourth essay, The employability of ex-offenders, published in IZA Journal of Labor Policy (2017), 6:6, details an analysis of whether male and female exoffenders are discriminated against when applying for jobs in the Swedish labor market. The results show that employers do discriminate against exoffenders but that the degree of discrimination varies across occupations. Discrimination against ex-offenders is pronounced in female-dominated and high-skilled occupations. The magnitude of discrimination against exoffenders does not vary by applicants’ sex.

The fifth essay, Victimized twice?, describes an analysis of whether male and female crime victims are discriminated against when applying for jobs in the Swedish labor market. This study is the first to consider potential hiring discrimination against crime victims. The results show that employers do discriminate against crime victims. The discrimination varies with the sex of the crime victim and occupational characteristics and is concentrated among high-skilled jobs for female crime victims and among femaledominated jobs for male crime victims.

We analyze how education is associated with earnings and health-related behaviors (HRBs) over the adult life cycle using a sample of 18,000 twins. The underlying motive is to improve the understanding of to what extent schooling may contribute to increased human welfare over time and age through the intermediaries of earnings and HRBs. We find that one additional year of schooling is associated with around 5-6 percent higher earnings at ages 35-75 and generally improved HRBs for both men and women. Much of the estimated relationships between schooling, earnings and HRBs can be traced back to genetic inheritance. Controlling for such inheritance, the remaining education -earnings premium is non-linear and increasing with educational level, and the education premium in HRBs is mainly concentrated to smoking habits.

Adult height is a function of genetic predispositions and environmental influences during childhood. Hence, any variation in height among monozygotic twins, who share genetic predispositions, is bound to reflect differences in their environmental exposure. Therefore, a height premium in earnings among monozygotic twins also reflects such exposure. In this study, we analyze the height premium over the life cycle among Swedish twins, 10,000 of whom are monozygotic. The premium is relatively constant over the life cycle, amounting to 5-6% higher earnings per decimeter for men and less for women, suggesting that environmental conditions in childhood and youth affect earnings over most of the adult life course. The premium is larger below median height for men and above median height for young women. The estimates are similar for monozygotic and dizygotic twins, indicating that environmentally and genetically induced height differences are similarly associated with earnings. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.