Racial and religious discrimination by private employment agencies is “shockingly widespread” despite state laws forbidding bias against job applicants on grounds of creed or color, the American Jewish Congress charged here today, in disclosing the findings of a survey of 385 employment agencies in six major cities across the country.
More than 90 percent of all the agencies covered in the survey — 351 out of 385 — agreed to fill telephone requests for a “white Protestant stenographer” although prohibited from doing so by state law, the Jewish group reported.
The survey covered private commercial employment agencies in Los Angeles and San Francisco, Cal.; Chicago, 111.; Boston, Mass.; Detroit, Mich.; and Philadelphia, Pa. The findings, which ranged from a low of 89.5 percent in Los Angeles, to a high of 97.1 percent in Philadelphia, confirmed the results of previous surveys by the American Jewish Congress among New York City employment agencies.
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