Racial and Ethnic Variations in Employment Access: An Examination of Residential Location and Commuting in Metropolitan Areas

This paper uses data from the metropolitan samples of the American Housing Survey in 1977/78 and 1985 to examine the commute patterns of whites, blacks, and Hispanics in metropolitan areas, with a particular focus on the commutes of workers living in predominately minority residential areas. Contrary to the spatial mismatch hypothesis, black and Hispanic workers living in minority areas had both shorter commutes and commutes that increased more slowly between 1977/78 and 1985 compared to workers in other areas. Further, a longitudinal analysis shows that the average commute times of non-moving minority workers in predominately minority areas decreased during the study period. Much of the observed differences in commute time between whites, blacks, and Hispanics are explained by variations in commute mode; white workers are more likely to drive to work alone while minority workers are more likely use public transit. We find this "automobile mismatch" between white and minority workers to be a much more important factor in explaining racial/ethnic variations in commuting than a spatial mismatch between minority workers and suburban employment.