The Impact of Spatial Mismatch on Female Labor Force Participation

John Kain hypothesized that housing discrimination, coupled with the suburbanization of low-skill jobs, has contributed to the poor economic status of minority central-city residents by creating a spatial mismatch between where poor central-city residents reside and the location of low-skill jobs. Four recent reviews of the spatial mismatch literature indicate that there is support for the hypothesis. Although a large amount of research on the spatial mismatch hypothesis has been conducted, the impact of spatial mismatch on women has been largely ignored. This study explores the impact of spatial mismatch on the labor force participation of White, Black, and Hispanic women using the 1990 Public Use Microdata Sample. The results suggest that spatial mismatch has an impact on laborforce participation of women regardless of race and that racial disparities in labor force participation rates are partially explained by a higher degree of mismatch faced by minority women.