Working Paper: NBER ID: w24728
Authors: Conrad Miller
Abstract: This paper examines whether job suburbanization caused declines in black employment rates from 1970 to 2000. I find that black workers are less likely than white workers to work in observably similar jobs that are located further from the central city. Using evidence from establishment relocations, I find that this relationship at least in part reflects the causal effect of job location. At the local labor market level, I find that job suburbanization is associated with substantial declines in black employment rates relative to white employment rates. Evidence from nationally planned highway infrastructure corroborates a causal interpretation.
Keywords: job suburbanization; black employment; spatial mismatch hypothesis; labor market inequality
JEL Codes: J60; R12
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| job suburbanization (R23) | decline in black employment rates (J68) |
| job suburbanization (R23) | increase in white employment rates (J79) |
| decline in fraction of MSA jobs in central city (R11) | decline in black relative employment rates (J79) |
| job suburbanization (R23) | decrease in normalized black share of employees at relocating establishments (J79) |
| job suburbanization (R23) | decline in black men's employment rates (J79) |