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Research ArticleArticle

Do Low-Wage Employers Discriminate Against Applicants with Long Commutes? Evidence from a Correspondence Experiment

David C. Phillips
Published online before print August 03, 2018, 1016-8327R; DOI: https://doi.org/10.3368/jhr.55.3.1016-8327R
David C. Phillips
1David C. Phillips () is an associate research professor at the Wilson Sheehan Lab for Economics Opportunities and the Department of Economics at the University of Notre Dame.
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Abstract

I use a correspondence study of the low-wage labor market in Washington, DC to test whether employers discriminate against applicants who live farther from the job location. Fictional résumés randomly assigned to have addresses far from the job location receive 14% fewer callbacks than those with addresses in nearby but similarly affluent neighborhoods. Living 5–6 miles away from the job results in a penalty equal to that received by applicants with stereotypically black names. On the other hand, holding commute distance constant, I find no statistical evidence that employers respond to a neighborhood’s affluence.

JEL Codes
  • J7
  • R2
  • J6
Keywords
  • employment discrimination
  • spatial mismatch
  • urban poverty
  • correspondence experiment

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Journal of Human Resources: 58 (3)
Journal of Human Resources
Vol. 58, Issue 3
1 May 2023
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Do Low-Wage Employers Discriminate Against Applicants with Long Commutes? Evidence from a Correspondence Experiment
David C. Phillips
Journal of Human Resources Aug 2018, 1016-8327R; DOI: 10.3368/jhr.55.3.1016-8327R

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Do Low-Wage Employers Discriminate Against Applicants with Long Commutes? Evidence from a Correspondence Experiment
David C. Phillips
Journal of Human Resources Aug 2018, 1016-8327R; DOI: 10.3368/jhr.55.3.1016-8327R
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Keywords

  • J7
  • R2
  • J6
  • employment discrimination
  • spatial mismatch
  • urban poverty
  • correspondence experiment
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