Ethnic Unemployment Rates and Frictional Markets

Laurent Gobillon, Peter Rupert and Etienne Wasmer
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Peter Rupert: UC Santa Barbara - University of California [Santa Barbara] - UC - University of California

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Abstract: The unemployment rate in France is roughly 6 percentage points higher for African immigrants than for natives. In the US the unemployment rate is approximately 9 percentage points higher for blacks than for whites. Commute time data indicates that minorities face longer commute times to work, potentially reecting more di cult access to jobs. In this paper we investigate the impact of spatial mismatch on the unemployment rate of ethnic groups using the matching model proposed by Rupert and Wasmer (2012). We nd that spatial factors explain from 1 to 1.5 percentage points of the unemployment rate gap in both France and the US, amounting to 17% to 25% of the relative gap in France and about 10% to 17.5% in the US. Among these factors, di erences in commuting distance play the most important role. In France, though, longer commuting distances may be mitigated by higher mobility in the housing market for African workers. Overall, we still conclude that labor market factors remain the main explanation for the higher unemployment rate of Africans.

Keywords: Discrimination; Ethnic groups; Local markets; Matching models (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dem, nep-lab, nep-mig and nep-ure
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://shs.hal.science/halshs-00849074v1
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Related works:
Journal Article: Ethnic unemployment rates and frictional markets (2014)
Working Paper: Ethnic unemployment rates and frictional markets (2014)
Working Paper: Ethnic unemployment rates and frictional markets (2014)
Working Paper: Ethnic unemployment rates and frictional markets (2014)
Working Paper: Ethnic Unemployment Rates and Frictional Markets (2013)
Working Paper: Ethnic Unemployment Rates and Frictional Markets (2013)
Working Paper: Ethnic Unemployment Rates and Frictional Markets (2013)
Working Paper: Ethnic Unemployment Rates and Frictional Markets (2013)
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