WASHINGTON, Nov 22: Muslims in France face a tougher time landing a job interview than their Christian counterparts, suggested a study out Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The team of US and French researchers conducted the research by sending out 275 pairs of identical resumes, except that some had a fictitious Muslim applicant from Senegal and others had a Christian one.

“For every 100 positive responses received by the fictitious Senegalese Christian applicant, ‘Marie Diouf,’ Marie’s Muslim counterpart, ‘Khadija Diouf,’ received only 38 responses, or two-and-a-half times fewer,” said the study.

The only differences in the applications were the names and two indicators of religious identity. They were sent to companies in France that were seeking office workers.

The study authors said their analysis may have underestimated the degree of bias because “a portion of the French population does not readily associate Senegalese Muslims with Islam, and companies may wish to appear unbiased by granting call-backs to Muslim candidates without an intent to hire.”

An earlier study in 2009 that examined 511 Senegalese Christians and Muslims in France found that second generation Muslim households earned an average of 400 euros less per month than comparable Christian households.—AFP