RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Do Low-Wage Employers Discriminate Against Applicants with Long Commutes? Evidence from a Correspondence Experiment
JF Journal of Human Resources
JO J Hum Resour
FD University of Wisconsin Press
SP 1016-8327R
DO 10.3368/jhr.55.3.1016-8327R
A1 Phillips, David C.
YR 2018
UL http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/early/2018/08/01/jhr.55.3.1016-8327R.abstract
AB 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.