The purpose of this chapter is to analyse the sources of discrimination operating at the entrance to and within the labour market in eight different European countries: Austria, Cyprus, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Sweden and the UK. The findings presented here draw on approximately 65 expert interviews conducted by various members of the project team with teachers, managers, workers, trade union and/or work council representatives, officials at employment mediation offices and various NGO representatives in each of these countries in spring 2004. The interviews concerned with the labour market focused on various aspects of the hiring, work and layoff processes in two different towns in each country, where at least one public and one private firm was to be investigated. Although caution is advised given the problems of access, uneven willingness of firm representatives to answer our questions and the qualitative nature of our data, some insights into commonalities and differences in European patterns of discrimination can be offered. Before presenting them, let me briefly and roughly position our approach to labour market-related discrimination.

Human capital and the organizational-structural perspective dominate current debates about inequalities in the labour market. The first perspective takes a look at job applicants – either directly or through the eyes of the employer (see, for example, Kalter and Kogan 2002 but also Harzing 1995). The proponents of the human capital approach initially proposed by the economist Gary Becker in 1964 look at the supply side of the hiring process.