Introduction

Yarek Waszul

In New Jersey, employers are no longer allowed to specify in classified ads that only employed candidates will be considered. New York and Michigan have weighed the idea, and similar legislation has been introduced in Congress. But in most of the country, it is still legal to say, in effect, "unemployed need not apply" — and to discard a résumé because the applicant is not currently working. As an article in The New York Times on Tuesday pointed out, with the unemployment rate persistently high and 14 million Americans looking for work, such policies are likely to affect more people than ever before.

Should employers be allowed to give preference to candidates who are already working? Or should exclusion based on employment status be illegal, as it would be if a company barred candidates based on race, age, sex, etc.?