Can Certificate Programs Solve the Skills and Spatial Mismatch Problem? Job Portability and Residential Mobility in a Coding and Apprenticeship Program

Non-degree certificate programs that are free, short, and located in urban areas may allow for the geographic convergence of urban job-seekers and employers to lead to both a skills and a spatial match. Leveraging a large-scale survey of applicants to a unique technology certificate and apprenticeship program, we apply machine-learning generated propensity score weights, finding that apprenticeship completers were more likely to see a significant reduction in the distance between their homes and jobs when compared to similar non-admitted applicants. Additionally, through descriptive analyses, we see that a greater proportion of apprenticeship completers changed both their residential and employment locations. Finally, through geospatial depictions, we find that these residential and employment relocations are clustered in areas that differ by racial and socioeconomic composition, as well as labor market conditions. Our findings suggest that these types of education programs may solve the spatial mismatch problem for individuals but have limited implications for residential attainment