Ethnic Unemployment Rates and Frictional Markets

Etienne Wasmer, Laurent Gobillon and Peter Rupert

No 9507, CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers

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 reflecting more difficult 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 find that spatial factors explain between 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% in the US. Among these factors, differences in commuting distance plays 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 model (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E24 R23 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013-06
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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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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