Race, Segregation, and Postal Employment: New Evidence on Spatial Mismatch / Leah Platt Boustan, Robert A. Margo.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Boustan, Leah Platt.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Margo, Robert A.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w13462.

NBER working paper series no. w13462

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Other Title:

Race, Segregation, and Postal Employment

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2007.

Summary:

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.

Notes:

Print version record

October 2007.