Race, Segregation, and Postal Employment: New Evidence on Spatial Mismatch
41 Pages Posted: 5 Oct 2007 Last revised: 15 Oct 2022
Date Written: October 2007
Abstract
The spatial mismatch hypothesis posits that employment decentralization isolated urban blacks from work opportunities. This paper focuses on one large employer that has remained in the central city over the twentieth century - the U.S. Postal Service. We find that blacks substitute towards postal work as other employment opportunities leave the city circa 1960. The response is particularly strong in segregated areas, where black neighborhoods are clustered near the central business district. Furthermore, this pattern only holds for non-mail carriers, many of whom work in central processing facilities. More recently, the relationship between black postal employment and segregation has declined, suggesting that spatial mismatch has become less important over time.
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?
Recommended Papers
-
Peer Effects with Random Assignment: Results for Dartmouth Roommates
-
Peer Effects with Random Assignment: Results for Dartmouth Roommates
-
The Company You Keep: The Effects of Family and Neighborhood on Disadvantaged Youths
By Anne Case and Lawrence F. Katz
-
Network Effects and Welfare Cultures
By Marianne Bertrand, Erzo F. P. Luttmer, ...
-
The Rise and Decline of the American Ghetto
By David M. Cutler, Edward L. Glaeser, ...