Dr Arianna Gatta is a Research Fellow at the School of Economics and the Centre for Policy Futures at the University of Queensland. She received her PhD from the European University Institute in Italy. Her research examines employer discrimination, job quality, and welfare access, with a particular focus on how gatekeepers, such as employers and the public administration, shape opportunities for marginalised groups. Arianna specialises in quantitative and experimental methods and has extensive experience partnering with organisations, including Workways Australia, Anglicare Southern Queensland, the Italian Bureau of Statistics, and the Italian Federation of Organisations for the Homeless (Fio.PSD).
Areas of expertise:
- Active labour market policies
- Unemployment scarring
- Hiring discrimination
- Homelessness
- Welfare non-take-up
Job market paper and highlight project
Should job seekers explain employment gaps? Experimental evidence from Australian employers
(Co-authored with Todd Morris and Christine Ablaza)
Workers with long employment gaps often face discrimination from employers and are commonly advised to explain these gaps. Yet such explanations may be ineffective or even backfire. Using a vignette experiment with over 1,500 Australian employers, we provide the first evidence on how gap duration and reasons jointly shape employer perceptions. When no reason is provided, we find that candidates with long gaps (24–26 months) are rated 0.4 standard deviations lower than those with short gaps (2–4 months) on the interview and hiring scale and are perceived as lacking motivation, mental fitness, and soft skills. Providing a reason for the gap eliminates three-quarters of this penalty, consistent with Bayesian updating. However, we find significant heterogeneity across reasons. Explanations like caregiving or firm shutdown significantly improve employers’ intentions to interview and hire candidates with long gaps. Disclosing a physical injury harms only short-gap candidates, while a mental health condition harms both, revealing strong mental health stigma. These results suggest low-cost, scalable interventions: employment services can provide tailored guidance on when disclosing the reason improves hiring prospects.
What do employers want? Examining the mismatch of labour demand and supply through a study of employment services
(With Ria Thornton, Christine Ablaza, Rose-Marie Stambe, Todd Morris, Greg Marston and Workways Australia)
This project examines employer perspectives on active labour market programs delivered by employment service providers, investigating the disconnect between job seeker expectations and employer experiences in recruitment through employment services. Using a mixed-methods approach, the research combined in-depth qualitative interviews with both employers and job seekers alongside a vignette experiment involving hiring managers across Australia. The findings provide comprehensive evidence to improve employment service provider practices and inform evidence-based labour market policies.
Published/Accepted in peer-reviewed journals
Gatta, A. (2025). Do Employers Discriminate Against Active Labour Market Policies Participants? A Field Experiment on the Youth Guarantee Internship in Italy. European Economic Review. (A* in ABDC list; accepted)
Ablaza, C., Gatta, A., Stambe, R., Marston, G. (2025). Non-standard employment and job satisfaction: the mediating role of job characteristics. British Journal of Industrial Relations. Online first. (A* in ABDC list)
Gatta, A., Ablaza, C., Stambe, R., Marston, G. (2025). What is a good job and who gets it? Exploring the multidimensionality of job quality. Social Indicators Research, 179, 481–504. (A in ABDC list)
Gatta A., Mattioli F., Mencarini L., & Vignoli D. (2022). Employment Uncertainty and Fertility Intentions: Stability or Resilience? Population Studies, 76(3), 387–406. (A in ABDC list)
Working papers
Understanding the non-take-up of the Italian Minimum Income Scheme. (R&R at the Journal of Economic Inequality; A in ABDC list; co-authored with Giovanni Gallo and Massimo Baldini)
Housing discrimination publications: a bibliometric analysis. (Co-authored with Vanessa Ioannoni)
On Swedish and Australian employers’ attitudes to recruiting welfare clients and the role of stigma. A working paper. (Co-authored with Rose Stambe, Anna Angelin and Rickard Ulmestig)
Selected work in progress
Active Labour Market Policies as a way to overcome unemployment stigma? Evidence from a vignette experiment and Australian administrative data.(Lead author, co-authored with Christine Ablaza and Todd Morris)
Increasing attraction and gender diversity in the community services sector. Evidence from a discrete choice experiment in Australia. (Lead author, co-authored with Christine Ablaza, Robert Arcidiacono and Greg Marston)
Homelessness and welfare interruptions: is there a causal link? (Co-authored with Julie Moschion)
Arianna Gatta 