This dissertation tests whether changing urban structure has affected low-income job seekers' labor market outcomes differentially by impacting their job accessibility. The relatively poor labor market outcomes of minorities are well-documented in the Spatial Mismatch Hypothesis literature which claims that the unequal labor market outcomes are partly caused by the spatial barriers between minorities' residences and their matching job opportunities. This research aims to expand the demographic, geographic and temporal scopes of the Spatial Mismatch Hypothesis by studying low-income job seekers' job accessibility in the Los Angeles metropolitan area in 1990 and 2000.Using job accessibility which considers both job demand and job supply as the indicator of the spatial barriers to competitive job opportunities, this research tests whether low-income job seekers have lower job accessibility than the affluent majority in the polycentric urban structure, and compares the changes of job accessibility between 1990 and 2000. Findings of this research suggest that spatial mismatch still exists: low-income job seekers have lower job accessibility than the affluent majority, and they are more disadvantaged in 2000 than in 1990. However, mismatch is not only an issue in the inner cities, but also in parts of the suburbs. Low-income job seekers are more disadvantaged in the inner-ring suburbs compared to high-income job seekers mainly because of the lag of low-income job seekers' residential suburbanization.The second part of the empirical analysis is to test if spatial barriers, measured by job accessibility, affect low-income job seekers' labor market outcomes. This dissertation develops a conceptual model to explain through spatial job search job accessibility affects low-income job seekers' labor market outcomes. Empirical results demonstrate that overall job accessibility has positive impacts by increasing labor force participation rate and employment rate, and reducing commute time. There are two noteworthy findings. First, the impacts are particularly significant in census tracts with high accessibility which indicates relatively job rich areas, but not in those with low accessibility which indicates a short supply of jobs. Second, job accessibility tends to have larger impacts in census tracts with concentrations of disadvantaged groups, who have limited monetary and transportation resources to overcome the spatial barriers.This research is important for understanding the mechanism and consequences of spatial transformation, and for facilitating planning and decision-making which address issues such as equity in transportation investments, jobs-housing balance, and affordable housing provision.
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