Spatial Job Search, Spatial Mismatch, and the Employment and Wages of Racial and Ethnic Groups in Los Angeles

Abstract

This article examines racial/ethnic differences in geographic job search behavior and the differential effects that this search has on groups' employment and wages in Los Angeles. Using data from the 1994 Los Angeles Survey of Urban Inequality (LASUI), the results indicate that, controlling for relevant characteristics, blacks, and on certain dimensions Latinos, extensively spatial job search to a greater degree than whites as measured by the number of areas searched. Moreover, this extensive spatial job is found to positively affect the employment of blacks and the wages of Latinos. Simulations show that increasing blacks' and Latinos' access to cars or decreasing their average distance to search areas will lead to greater geographic job search. In turn, this greater extensive spatial job search will lead to greater employment and wages for these groups, respectively. However, the gains in blacks' employment from increased extensive spatial job search are small in magnitude. These results are consistent with spatial mismatch.