Algorithmic Monocultures in Hiring

A large-scale study of 3.4 million job applications found that hiring algorithms from a single vendor create "algorithmic monocultures" that produce significant racial disparities, with 25.87% of Black applicants' and 14.74% of Asian applicants' applications directed to positions with adverse impact under U.S. employment law. The research, the first independent large-scale empirical study of deployed hiring algorithms, reveals that discrimination becomes visible only when analyzing individual job positions rather than aggregate data, and demonstrates systemic rejection rates exceeding what would occur with statistically independent decisions. The study highlights how concentrated use of algorithms from a few vendors by major employers limits accountability and underscores the need for policy intervention to enable scientific scrutiny of high-stakes AI hiring systems.