The Role of Homophily in Response to Labor Market Opportunities: Differences Across Race and Ethnicity

Kalee E. Burns and Julie L. Hotchkiss

Working Papers from U.S. Census Bureau, Center for Economic Studies

Abstract: This paper investigates the role that homophily might play in explaining racial/ethnic disparities in the labor market. We find that Black and Hispanic workers are less responsive than White workers to changes in job opportunities, but responsiveness increases when those opportunities present themselves in locations with a higher share own-race population. The analysis makes use of restricted American Community Survey data, accessible through the Federal Statistical Research Data Centers, allowing us to include commuting zones that may otherwise not be identified because of suppressed location information in the public data

Keywords: regional labor markets; regional migration; geographic mobility; racial disparities; migration policy; migration costs; social costs; homophily; place-based; people-based; geographic mismatch (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J15 J18 J61 R22 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-geo, nep-mid and nep-mig
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https://www2.census.gov/library/working-papers/2026/adrm/ces/CES-WP-26-22.pdf First version, 2026 (application/pdf)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cen:wpaper:26-22

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