Question 9.32

9.32 Hiring practices.

A company has been accusec of age discrimination in hiring for operator positions. Lawyers for both sides look at data on applicants for the past three years. They compare hiring rates for applicants younger than 40 years and those 40 years or older.

hiring

Age Hired Not hired
Younger than 40 82 1160
40 or older 2 168

Note that you answered parts (a) through (d) of this exercise if you completed Exercise 2.111 (page 115).

  1. Find the two conditional distributions of hired/not hired: one for applicants who are less than 40 years old and one for applicants who are not less than 40 years old.
  2. Based on your calculations, make a graph to show the differences in distribution for the two age categories.
  3. Describe the company's hiring record in words. Does the company appear to discriminate on the basis of age?
  4. What lurking variables might be involved here?
  5. Use a significance test to determine whether or not the data indicate that there is a relationship between age and whether or not an applicant is hired.