“Anti-Discrimination and Diversity and Inclusion Language in U.S. Job Ads, 2018-2025,” Janet Xu, Stanford GSB

COMPUTATIONAL SOCIAL SCIENCE WORKSHOP

Abstract: Work organizations routinely use job advertisements to communicate commitments to equal employment opportunity and diversity and inclusion, but the social and political meaning of such language has become increasingly contested. How do organizations adjust this language in response to social movements and political change? This paper examines when and how employers discuss equal employment opportunity (EEO) and diversity and inclusion (DEI) in U.S. job postings between 2018 and 2025. Using job postings data from a labor market analytics company covering hundreds of millions of listings nationwide, we analyze trends and changes in employer signaling to job seekers. We distinguish between language emphasizing legal compliance with EEO requirements and language making broader claims about the value or benefits of DEI. Preliminary results indicate that starting in 2020, organizational language related to EEO and pro-diversity claims have both increased, but only pro-diversity language claims declined in early 2025 following the Trump administration’s executive orders targeting DEI. Despite this short-term decrease, the overall prevalence of job listings with language referencing anti-discrimination and diversity and inclusion remains higher in 2025 than before 2020.

Janet Xu is an Assistant Professor of Organizational Behavior at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business. She received her PhD in Sociology from Princeton University. Janet studies how organizations and individuals define, communicate, and respond to diversity—particularly around race and gender—and how these processes shape hiring, evaluation, and inequality in labor markets and organizations.

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